Solar powered streetlights and signs are not that unusual, but Panasonic have installed the solar and wind powered streetlights around their Panasonic Center in Tokyo.
“During the day the solar cells on top and the turbines generate power that’s stored in a battery at the base. At night the battery is used to run the streetlights, though the turbines continue to spin and produce power even in the dark.” [Via: OhGizmo!]
This is a great idea, hopefully in 10 years or so these will be common place. I looked into wind power but all of the cheap turbines are noisy and even some of the expensive ones crank out some noise (65db). If someone could invent a way to source power from cold weather I would be all set since I live in New England.
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