When it comes to developing wind energy, there's too much emphasis on capacity and not enough attention to efficiency, said Gene Kelley, founder of W2 Energy Development Corp.

And that's where he has a bone to pick with T. Boone Pickens.

Pickens, the Texas billionaire who made his fortune in oil and natural gas, is pushing a plan that would install wind turbine power along a "wind corridor" stretching from Texas through the Midwest toward Canada. His pitch is that wind energy could replace 22 percent of electrical generation in the U.S. — freeing up natural gas for transportation.

He estimates that could reduce imported oil by 38 percent, resulting in about $300 billion in savings.

Pickens' plan includes installing 4,000 megawatts of wind power in Texas, which would be the world's largest wind farm.

Kelley said the plan — which is commendable for raising awareness about wind energy — has about as many holes in it as the prototype of W2's wind-energy device, the "woodpecker." It's so named because so many holes were created from drilling and repositioning parts while developing the model.

"His idea is great; it's forward-thinking," Kelley said. "He's to be congratulated for arousing the interest and bringing it to the attention of the American people.

"Had he looked a little harder for alternatives, he might have bumped into us."

Calls to the media representative for the Pickens Plan were not returned.

Kelley and a handful of others started Goleta-based W2 to advance a new technology to capture wind energy. Rather than using propeller turbines that spin through a column of air while leaving a large portion of that energy untouched, Kelley's device uses wings that move up and down in the air. This is the "WindWing."

Kelley asserts that the wings bring a larger surface area in contact with the air, making the system more efficient than propeller turbines.

It bothers him that subsidies and tax breaks are going to systems he sees as highly inefficient. And efficiency is another part of the Pickens Plan that falls short, Kelley said.

The plan calls for wind farms to be located in the middle of the country, piping out energy to the coasts on either side. But this proposal is being made at a time when energy companies are talking about more localized power production. The farther electricity has to travel away from its production site, the more energy is lost in that transmission.

Low velocity wind used

The benefit of the WindWing is that it is made to capture energy with low-velocity wind — moving up and down to generate power in 10- to 12-mile-per-hour winds and higher as opposed to propeller turbines that need faster winds, according to Kelley. That means that WindWings can be used in more places — creating a decentralized source of power. The devices rotate to meet the wind head-on.

W2 is examining the use of "mini-clusters" of a few, small WindWings to power residential areas, and "macro-clusters" that would feature larger WindWings and power malls or light industry.

The company also is working on how the systems can be built with off-the-shelf parts to make them easy to adjust for the size of a project, modify for the task at hand (whether generating electricity or pumping water, for example), and build with local labor and parts.

The coming months could mark some significant milestones for the company.

To start, W2 will introduce its prototype next month at Santa Barbara Harbor, tentatively Sept. 15.

"We want to get our prototype in the eyes of the public very quickly now because of the groundswell of interest" caused by the Pickens Plan, Kelley said.

The company wants to show that energy can be produced locally and more cheaply.

"The technology is available that can supplement and replace, in some cases, the spinning propeller as the primary producing agent," he said.

What the device can do

The prototype is the next generation of the woodpecker model — it will be about twice as large. It also subs in machine-tooled parts made specifically for the prototype, said David Buckalew, vice president of W2. The woodpecker model had a garage hobbyist feel with its barbell weights, car window mechanism and duct tape.

The prototype is a way to show off what the device can do while getting important test data. It will serve as the baseline for future engineering and efficiency data.

W2 also is in talks with a company that has new generator technology. Couple a smaller, more efficient generator with the increased efficiency of the WindWing design, and you've really got something, Kelley said.

WindWing possibilities are catching on beyond the company's backyard.

In Hawaii, W2 is testing the WindWing's abilities in an area with low-velocity wind through a contract with the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority, or NELHA. The winds there run about 10 to 12 mph, Kelley said.

Will Rolston of NELHA said he first saw the technology in May and thought that it was "unique, novel, genius — and so seemingly obvious once you understand it," he wrote in an e-mail.

Around-the-clock power

Rolston said the testing will look at performance in a variety of wind locations and can create power for electric vehicles, batteries and other NELHA uses. He envisions that the wind energy could be combined with other technology, such as solar power, to produce renewable power around the clock.

In Massachusetts, a WindWing is planned both as a power generator and a piece of kinetic art. In Utah, the governor is looking at the WindWing as way to make the state more green.

The leaders at W2 think that it is only a matter of time before word spreads about what they're doing. They're working out how to license the technology, Buckalew said.

Kelley said he'll talk to anybody, citing a motto of "have toothbrush, will travel."

"I'll give a presentation to two people if they'll listen, anywhere," he said.

"We need to enlighten the public about the inefficiencies of collecting energy today," he said. "Politicians are buying into what is available rather than what is necessary to do the job."

On the Net:

http://www.w2energycorp.com

http://www.pickensplan.com