Dr Jim Platts, Lecturer in the Production Processes Group, has been assisting China to develop wind turbine blades made out of bamboo to exploit its wind energy capacity. China currently has a wind energy capacity comparable to the whole of Europe. The majority of wind turbine manufacturers use glass and carbon fibres in polymer matrices as the primary structural material for blades. Dr Platts and his Chinese partners have shown that bamboo can be used as an alternative to energy-intensive fibres and polymers for this high technology application. Since bamboo is also a sustainable resource this makes wind energy a very attractive proposition for the sustainable electricity generation. Dr Platts has spent over twenty years developing the design and manufacture of blades for wind turbines.