Abigail Klein Leichman
April 7, 2009, Updated September 12, 2012

Up on the roof: Israeli company Sovna has found a whole new use for city rooftops.

Israeli start up Sovna has developed a novel way to harvest clean electricity by putting wind turbines on top of skyscrapers.

The one-year old company already has its first functioning wind turbine in place in Tel Aviv, and further turbines are due to go up across Israel and in North America during the following year.

Sovna was founded by Guy Shahar, Erez Ella, and Danny Cohen. The team predicts that if the company’s technology is put into widespread use, it could create up to three percent of a city’s energy needs. Electricity generated from the turbines will be used in the building below.