Jay Harman has made a long-term study of fluid flows: The biology and physics of vortexes reveal promise of efficiencies in energy and natural systems. Pax Scientific, the company he founded, now has 5 spin-off companies, one being PaxIT absorbed with designing quieter more efficient computer fans.
The article also cites examples of the slowness with which promising inventions get adopted — even in the computer or information technology industries. Read the article in the New York Times from June 8th.