Could 'wobbly' wind turbines power future homes?

This is a bladeless wind turbine.

This is the man who invented them - David Yanez

and it could be a wind energy game changer.

The turbine is a slender, vertical and simple piece of machinery that instead of rotating or spinning, oscillates

collecting the kinetic energy of the wind and transforms it into electricity

at approximately 30% of the cost of conventional wind energy sources.

CO-FOUNDER OF VORTEX BLADELESS AND INVENTOR OF BLADELESS WIND TURBINE TECHNOLOGY, DAVID YANEZ SAYING:

"What we want is to try to find a niche that is not properly covered by conventional wind power. The niche that in principle we see could be small wind industry, because the absence of maintenance, no need for oil and the low cost could be the elements that make this idea a useful tool for distributing energy, producing energy close to the point of consumption."

His start-up, called Vortex Bladeless, was born in 2015.

Their latest prototype measures 9 feet and 33 inches and are aimed at being used in urban centres, either on their own or in conjunction with solar panels.

"For all those urban centres that do not have as much solar resources as Spain and the whole Mediterranean area, the urban environment seems to fit perfectly with this idea. The fact it does not produce noise, the visual impact is subjective, but there are those who consider that it could have some attraction, better than those of the conventional wind industry."

Yanez estimates that with a suitable investor they could commercialize their prototypes in 12 to 18 months.

In the long-term, he hope is that his invention can be used in the off-shore wind industry.