Inspired by the vibrations wind forces produced upon the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, Shawn Frayne suspended a taut membrane with coils between two small magnets which, when exposed to a low wind can create enough electricity to power small devices such as lighting or clock radios. The current project was developed for rural areas without electrical infrastructure however it is hoped that the current design can be scaled up somewhat to produce more power without the inevitable noise problems.
There is a pretty snazzy video interview and some diagrams on this Popular Mechanics webpage.
While not every idea solves every problem perfectly, it is little ideas like this that I really appreciate as they show how solutions to our perceived problems could already be staring us right in the face.
All we have to do is learn how to look around.
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