US Patent 7950143 - Nanowire-based wind energy

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7950143.html

Conventional wind power often takes the form of large installations positioned in remote areas to avoid the environmental impact of noise and scenic blight. Another option is smaller local wind power generators which may be implemented on a grass roots level. This patent from Genedics Clean Energy teaches a way to use nanomaterials to create microscale wind energy gathering devices. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method of fabricating a wind energy gathering microdevice, the method comprising:

producing micro-components of the wind energy gathering microdevice using three-dimensional lithography;

producing at least one array of nanowires;

manipulating the micro-components and nanowires using optical cutting lasers and optical trapping lasers;

assembling the micro-components of the wind energy gathering micro-device and nanowires, the nanowires electrically interconnect the micro-components to form the wind energy gathering microdevice.