Tornado Energy

Via the excellent good news website Gimundo, news that one forward thinking scientist is working on harnessing energy from tornadoes.

Tornadoes are more associated with wreckage and destruction than environmental activism. But surprisingly, they've got plenty of potential to do good: Your average tornado contains as much energy as a typical power plant. If only we could find a way to harness that power, we could create clean energy alternatives that don't rely on coal or nuclear power.

Unfortunately, tornadoes don't take direction from humans too well. But Canadian engineer Louis Michaud came up with a novel idea: By creating his own man-made tornado, which he calls an Atmospheric Vortex Engine, he could extract as much as 200 megawatts of electricity - enough to power a small city.

Live Science has more on the man who just might be sitting on a gold mine.