Can a spinning anemometer generate electricity like a windmill?

Question

how much more efficient is today's best designed blades versus the most poorly designed, say, an old-fashioned wooden dutch mill? Or compared to an anemometer, at the same wingspan, ofcourse.

Answer 1

and this relates to aircraft how?

Answer 2

What you are talking about is a vertical axis wind turbine, of which there are a number of designs under development and in use.  A vertical axis wind turbine has a number of advantages over a traditional "propeller" style wind turbine, and also some design problems.

Try an Internet search on "vertical axis wind turbine."

Answer 3

Yes - a spinning anemometer can generate electricity like a windmill. The part on efficiency I cannot answer due to no specific inputs.

Answer 4

The more efficient wind turbines are airfoil propellers.  A cups-on-a-rotor turbine is not very efficient, but are very inexpensive to build, which could justify their "inefficiency".  After all, the wind is free, and if you can build a turbine out of available materials instead of buying a fancy turbine, you will be money ahead with your invention.  The Dutch windmills had a lot of torque, which is what they needed to drive their pumps and mills.  The "poorly designed" machines you refer to did just exactly what the designer wanted them to do.