President Obama was gave a speech today on the importance of green energy opportunities as a crucial component for economic growth in rural America and described the current unemployment situation as a “silent crisis.”

Wind power was at the forefront of the speech as he delivered it at the Siemens Wind Turbine Blade Manufacturing Plant in Fort Madison, Iowa.

“One study suggests that if we pursue our full potential for wind energy, and everything else goes right, wind could generate as much as 20% of America’s electricity 20 years from now — that’s right 20%,” Obama stated.

Do it yourself how-to video about making your own vertical home wind turbine. Perfect for the green-minded homeowner!

A London based company called Solar Botanic intends to use Energy Harvesting Trees to generate solar as well as wind energy utilizing an emerging science called “biomimicry.”

Biomimicry mimics nature’s processes in order to produce clean, environmental friendly energy.

Solar Botanic claims that its energy capturing powerhouse is going to be Nanoleaf.

On their website, they say, “A Nanoleaf is thin like a natural leaf, when outside forces, like the wind pushes the Nanoleaf back and forth, mechanical stresses appear in the petiole, twig and branches. When thousands of Nanoleaves flap back and forth due to wind, millions and millions of Pico watts are generated, the stronger the wind, the more energy is generated.”

Jay Leno has brought the power of wind to NBC.com. In the above video, Leno discusses MagLev wind turbine, a turbine that levitates on a magnetic field. Because the turbine uses less resistance, more energy is conserved and there is less mechanical wear. This MagLev turbine is going in Ed Begley’s house, but Leno says he’ll get a bigger one.

Obama vowed to put a half million people to work, building wind turbines and solar panels, creating more jobs in the renewable energy industry.

“Renewable energy isn’t something pie-in-the-sky,” Obama said. “It’s not part of a far-off future. It’s happening all across America right now. With all the bad news going on out there, with all the news of jobs lost and businesses shuttered, jobs were created right here.”

This video gives a great example of the importance of a wind turbine’s braking mechanism becuase this is what happens when it breaks.

The wind turbine was about 90 feet high and the wind speed was approximately 30 miles per hour.