The ‘Wind Tree’ that could heat your home

French company NewWind has created the “Arbre a Vent” or “Wind Tree,” a 3-meter-tall generator designed for urban environments which makes the most of smaller air currents.

Operating in near complete silence, the wind tree consists of 72 micro turbine “aeroleaves” that rotate in the wind, generating an estimated 3.1. kW of power.

While this isn’t much compared to industrial-sized turbines, which typically generate in the region of 1 – 3MW, having multiple smaller turbines has its uses.

However innovative, this is not the first urban energy source inspired by nature — check out the “Power Flower” and others in the gallery above.

Watch: Windmill turns power into paint

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CNN