March 17, 2009 4:00 AM PDT
Oregon Wind plans to release a beta version of its Helyx wind turbine later this month. The company is also developing a street light (pictured here) that is powered both by a small solar panel on top and the vertical axis turbine. The company says that the Helyx wind turbine doesn't produce that much electricity--a 42-inch turbine produces 80 watts with 28 mile-per-hour wind--but the materials and manufacturing costs are relatively low.
Photo by Oregon Wind
Caption by Martin LaMonica
