Sometimes you see an idea that just seems so obvious; you have to wonder why nobody thought of it sooner.  Treehugger has a story on a project called Wind-It.  If you take the time to read this story, I guarantee you will never look at an electrical tower the same way again.

The genius of this idea is their use of these existing structures.  By placing a wind turbine inside the empty space of an electrical tower, they solve 2 of the biggest problems facing wind towers.  One, where to locate wind towers.  Two, transferring the generated power into the grid.

According to the story, there are more than 157,000 miles of high voltage power lines in the U.S.  Incorporating wind power into this infrastructure would make even better use of the land already occupied by the towers and save lots of money by not having to build new structures.

I think this idea appeals to me so much because it capitalizes on a wasted resource.  They fill all that empty space of an electrical tower with a productive wind turbine.  There is a strong similarity here to Passenger Energy since we are trying to fill the empty seats in automobiles with energy saving passengers who can leave their cars at home.

photo credit: the_toe_stubber