Expendable energy is a global issue that continues to provoke young entrepreneurs to search for new and creative ways to create renewable energy sources. Many have undertaken to transform the energy market through solar energy, hydroelectric power, biomass and wind turbines, but few have tried to innovate within these renewable sources. Shawn Frayne, the developer and founder of Humdinger Wind Energy, has revolutionized the wind power industry through his wind belt technology. Instead of the traditional, inefficient and unattractive wind turbines, Frayne’s wind belt is microscopic in comparison (ranging in sizes from a couple centimeters- to a couple meters), and 30 times more efficient, edging even into the average price of coal.

Frayne came up with the idea for the windbelt while on a trip to Haiti, in which he was trying to convert agricultural waste into burnable charcoal. While developing this technology he realized that there was a need for producing low cost energy to provide electricity to impoverished areas. A solar energy plant was out of the question, so the next logical option was wind power. Frayne’s wind belt uses a membrane stretched across a bowed surface that oscillates back and forth when a wind current travels past it. This oscillation creates a current that is transformed into electro-magnetic energy, which is capable of generating a considerable amount of power.

What impresses me the most about Frayne’s innovative style, is not as much the idea he had for the design, but the way he came up with his idea. Frayne had a mind set on a problem, and had a heart that was passionate about finding a solution. He began by focusing on a general need, cheap sustainable energy, and eventually narrowed this need into a specific solution: wind energy.