Researchers have developed a prototype coating for wind turbine blades that could considerably reduce the amount of noise made by them, after they looked into how owls fly and hunt.

It has been shown in early tests of the material, which imitates the complicated structure of an owl's wing, that it could considerably reduce the amount of noise that wind turbines produce in addition to other types of fan blades, like those used in computers or planes.

This new surface means wind turbines could be run at much higher speeds as they had to be heavily braked to minimize noise. With the addition of new surface, they will produce more energy and reduce the noise. This could lead to production of several additional megawatts worth of electricity for an average-sized wind farm.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have developed the surface, in association with researchers at three institutions in the USA. The results will be presented at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Aeroacoustics Conference in Dallas.

According to Professor Nigel Peake of Cambridge's Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, who led the research, "Many owls can hunt by stealth, swooping down and capturing their prey undetected. While we've known this for centuries, what hasn't been known is how or why owls are able to fly in silence".

High resolution microscopy was used by Peake and his collaborators at Virginia Tech, Lehigh and Florida Atlantic Universities to examine owl feathers in fine detail.