Wikipedia Trails: Hans Christian Andersen to Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

I was inspired by my extra credit reading to find out more about the apparently miserable person that was Hans Christian Andersen.

HCA, from Wikipedia

Learning that he was from Denmark did not surprise me, since it was cold and miserable when I was there visiting my sister last Thanksgiving. I also remembered seeing a large wind farm in the harbor when I was flying in that make the windmills in Oklahoma look like match sticks, so the Wikipedia page about Wind Turbines was my next stop. From here, I was surprised to learn that there are actually a number of blade designs, the most interesting looking was the Vertical Axis Wind Turbine. While these might look even more futuristic than the more traditional designs that we're used to, and they have the advantage of not needing to be pointed into the wind, the additional torque that these blades require to spin reduces the efficiency, keeping them from wide spread usage.