Yeah, I stole Saab's tagline, so what? I've always been a little annoyed by the assertion that any company with a background in aerospace can automatically make the best equipment. In the case of cars -- like BMW and Saab -- it seems to translate pretty well. Now another company is touting their jet engine design knowledge; claiming that they've come up with a new turbine that harvests as much wind energy as a conventional turbine twice its size, but is compact enough to maximize a tract of land's power per acre.

These new turbines, conceived by Massachusetts-based FloDesign, looks pretty similar to a huge jet engine on a stick. Typical turbines capture a small percentage of the air that moves around their enormous blades -- 59.3% has been considered the limit. FloDesign's turbines are equipped with a shroud which funnels air into the turbine, speeding it up even. That allows FloDesign turbines not only to be twice as effective, but be packed in like sardines on a smaller piece of property. After driving through a few giant farms recently, compactness is definitely something I can appreciate.

Check out the video.

[via Earth2Tech]