I ran across this cool product.  It is an LED street light, with a wind turbine and solar module, mounted on the same pole, over the light.

This product, sized to fit in a residential neighborhood,  is sold by a company called Urban Green Energy.  It generates electricity when the sun is shining and/or wind is blowing, and stores it in a battery to power the light.

As designers strive to create a more sustainable future, we’re thrilled to see designs that integrate a variety of renewable energy technologies into objects we encounter in everyday life. This innovative hybrid wind and solar powered street lamp is just such a solution – not only does it use renewable energy to provide light, it’s a stylish update to an everyday object that is capable of operating completely off-grid.

I imagine it could also be configured to supply power to the grid in its neighborhood.  It’s much nicer looking than any off-grid solar powered device I’ve seen installed, but I think it would look better with one less technology.  I also think it’s funny that “green” products are often painted or logoed in green, presumably so we get the environmental point.

Here is another similar concept (which exists in real life), a “tree” with solar cells on top of the round pods, and lights below.

This activity is encouraging, as aesthetic appeal will help clean energy devices move out of the early adopter phase (the people who want their solar panels or wind turbine to be obvious, like their Prius).  I hope a lot of the best industrial designers will move into this space.