Back in the '80s, a design for a full-scale wind turbine was in, probably, Popular Mechanics. It looked like a nuke cooling tower with vertical slots, and ... v

Back in the '80s, a design for a full-scale wind turbine was in, probably, Popular Mechanics. It looked like a nuke cooling tower with vertical slots, and ... vanes? arranged to generate a tornado vortex inside. At bottom center, a wind turbine caught air driven from below into the eye vacuum. Apparently it was impractical just because it was very, very loud. I wonder if today it could be made practical with active noise cancellation, or clever modern fluid-dynamic treatment beyond '80s capability. Even if not, it seems like there are places it would be tolerable. And maybe small ones would be useful, even as-is. It should anyway be easy enough to try out. Much of the proposed value of the title gadget is in relying on existing roofing to concentrate wind where it is. That, and you can also put solar on the same roof, so get power from two uncorrelated sources. It's not prima facie silly, even though the marketing is tone-deaf. Good ideas often get bad marketing.