Mysterious Kite

It’s all shrouded in mystery, but the word is: the company was founded by a gifted inventor, the promise is to gather 10 times as much wind energy than traditional turbines, the financial backing is provided by the good folks at Google, and the product is a high-flying kite with membranes that harvest energy from the wind. Wow. Makani Power is the company, Saul Griffith is the inventor, and Google just forked over $5 million (in addition to a previous $10 million) in its program to find cleaner, cheaper energy sources. But the company isn’t commenting on the engineering behind the kites and … well, they’re not commenting on anything. Griffith has some serious clout, as in the past he’s invented load-sensing ropes, inexpensive eyeglass manufacture and bicycle lighting. Not to mention his national inventing awards and patents in textiles, optics, nanotechnology and energy production. Oh, and comics for kids. That must have been one heck of a pitch meeting. Questions can be sent to Jim Parks at jrparks@mac.com.