Patent ID: 8188614

Claim:
A system for providing electrical energy to heating and cooling units for a building by capturing energy from wind impacting the exterior wall surfaces of the building, comprising: a plurality of conduits extending through the building between opposite exterior wall surfaces thereof, the conduits being disposed between adjacent floors of the building with each conduit having first and second end portions open to the exterior wall surfaces of the building; a wind deflector mechanism in the form of a plurality of air inlet elements disposed at the first and second end portions of the conduits and adapted to capture wind impacting the exterior wall surfaces proximate the first and second end portions of the conduits, the air inlet elements being adapted for movement between an inward position to deflect wind into the conduits to create a substantially axial airflow therein and an outward position to direct wind to exit the conduits; at least one wind collector device disposed within the conduits, each wind collector device having air impact members mounted to a shaft, the shaft being configured to rotate as airflow interacts with the air impact members; airflow turbulence control elements pivotally mounted within the conduits to create substantially laminar airflow along the length thereof, the airflow turbulence control elements having first and second positions to accelerate airflow towards the wind collector device and being configured to allow for bi-directional airflow within the conduits such that the first position accelerates airflow towards the first end portions of the conduits and the second position accelerates airflow towards the second end portions of the conduits; and at least one wind turbine device disposed proximate the conduits and operatively connected with the shaft of the wind collector device, the wind turbine device being configured to generate electrical energy from the rotation of the shaft and provide the electrical energy to the heating and cooling units for the building.