Accio Energy of Ann Arbor has developed a way to use wind energy to produce electricity that does not use turbine blades, magnets, or coils of wire. Electricity is created by using wind molecules to push positively charged ions against the force of an electrostatic field. In a process analogous to what happens in a thunderstorm, the wind drives droplets of water past a conductive metal to create an electric field to be harvested as electric current. Accio calls its “aerovoltaic” wind technology.  The phenomenon was studied 30-40 years ago but did not lead anywhere. A prototype will be field tested in 2012. The goal is to achieve a better power density than that produced by solar panels.