I've seen hand-held solar chargers before—the Solio immediately comes to mind—but I've yet to see a functional wind-powered hand-held charger. Enter the HYmini. It's palm-sized, comes in three colors, costs 50 bucks, and can charge your gadgets with nothing but a stiff breeze. Well, almost. While it's a welcome idea, on closer inspection, the feature set isn't all we'd like it to be.

One common complaint about wind turbines is that they blemish the scenic countrysides and coastlines where they perch. Now an architect in London has an attractive solution. The “wind dam,” a giant swath of fabric connected to a turbine, looks more like a Christo art installation than a power generator.

Next spring, General Electric will inaugurate the Arklow Bank Offshore Wind Park, a wind farm just off the eastern coast of Ireland. The plant is already operating at nearly full capacity, its seven massive 3.6-megawatt turbines cranking out enough electricity for 16,000 households. Arklow Bank is Ireland’s first offshore wind-energy project and Europe’s 19th, with at least 10 more slated to go up in 2005.