LONDON, England (CNN) -- James Bond would be lost without them -- those madcap gadgets merging two technologies that help him beat the bad guys and save the planet. The underwater watch with a built-in Geiger counter, for example; or the car that doubles as a submarine; or the exploding bagpipes and missile-launching wheelchair.





An artist's impression of what a Flying Electric Generator might look like





Now a U.S. company has taken a leaf out of 007's book and developed a similarly unlikely "combination" technology.





The "villain" in this case is not a psychotic, cat-stroking megalomaniac, but something both more prosaic and, potentially, more threatening -- global warming: in particular, how to meet the world's energy needs without swamping the planet with clouds of atmosphere-clogging pollutants.





And the madcap gadget that might just provide a solution? A helicopter that doubles as a wind turbine. Or, to give it its technical name, a FEG (Flying Electric Generator).





The brainchild of Australian engineering specialist Professor Bryan Roberts, the FEG is being developed by San Diego-based company SkyWindPower.





Code-cracker turned turbine enthusiast





The latter is headed by David Shepard, who started his career cracking Japanese military ciphers during World War Two, and went on to create the Farrington B numeric font that appears on credit cards around the world.





Shepard has long been convinced of the need for a new global energy source to reduce reliance on carbon-emitting fossil fuels.





For the last two decades his attention has focused on the electricity-generating potential of high-altitude winds, and when he learnt of Professor Roberts' prototype "gyromill" -- a flying wind turbine that the Australian had been developing since 1979 -- he decided it offered the best model for realizing that potential.





The two men started working together in 2002, and the FEG is the result.





High-altitude winds





The guiding principle of the FEG is that wind speed and constancy are far greater at high altitude than they are on the ground, especially in the two major jet streams - the Sub-Tropical Jet and the Polar Front Jet - that exist in each hemisphere (at around 30 degrees and 60 degrees latitude respectively).





A turbine at great height, so the theory goes, can generate far more power than a similar turbine at or near ground level. It has been estimated that capturing just one percent of the available energy of these high altitude winds would meet the electricity needs of the entire planet.





"The winds a few miles above the mid latitudes of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres are far stronger and more persistent than the winds just above us," Shepard told CNN.





"This results in potentially being able to generate electricity for over eighty percent of the time, as opposed to thirty percent of the time at ground-based wind turbine sites.





"The largest ground-based wind turbines currently produce about five megawatts each. We expect typical FEGs to produce about 20 megawatts each."





Helicopter technology





But how do we get a working turbine up to the necessary height -- at least 15,000 ft (4600 meters) above the earth's surface? That's where helicopter technology comes in.





Taking the form of a giant H-shaped frame, the prototype FEG has four huge blades at the four points of the H, each blade 10.7 meters (35 feet) in diameter. These act like the rotors of a helicopter, lifting the FEG to the required height.





Once in place, the blades not only keep the FEG air-born, providing lift like the surface area of a kite, but also act as turbines, turning dynamos within the platform that generate electricity, which is transmitted back to earth through a vast aluminum tethering cable.





An in-built GPS (Global Positioning System) uses satellite technology to ensure that the FEG always remains in the same place, both vertically and horizontally.





According to Shepard, development is already at an advanced stage.





"Professor Roberts demonstrated a FEG in Australia at an altitude of sixty feet
Who has developed a flying wind turbine? What has a US company developed? What is the FEG (Flying Electric Generator)? What height would it hover at?
SkyWindPower. A helicopter that doubles as a wind turbine. A helicopter that doubles as a wind turbine. least 15,000 ft
question: Who has developed a flying wind turbine?, answer: SkyWindPower. | question: What has a US company developed?, answer: A helicopter that doubles as a wind turbine. | question: What is the FEG (Flying Electric Generator)?, answer: A helicopter that doubles as a wind turbine. | question: What height would it hover at?, answer: least 15,000 ft