Well, it's not harvesting the energy in naturally occurring lightning, but rather the energy found in inentionally generated lightning. While inventor Steve Le Roy's generated lightning bolts provide enough energy to illuminate a light bulb for 20 minutes, an average Midwest thunderstorm releases enough electrical energy to power the entire U.S. for 20 minutes. As LeRoy says: "If you've ever seen a tree hit by lightning, [you know] it's energy for the taking,"
Now this just sounds scary. While we were aware of harvesting wind power and tidal power as alternative forms of energy, we were not aware of harvesting lightning to provide the energy for our modern day conveniences.