generator
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Powertread turns gridlock into electricity with a series of tubes
Getting stuck in traffic sucks, but thanks to a couple of Kiwis you might soon be feeling a little better about yourself while muttering about the brake-happy commuter ahead of you. An invention called Powertread by Justin Robertson and Brett Kemp looks to do something positive with the unending shuffling of queued cars. It's literally a series of tubes filled with water that, when run over, force their contents through a turbine to generate electricity. One car driving over one of the things generates 580 watts of electricity at 36 amps. That's not an awful lot power, but imagine a dozen of the things lined up at a busy off-ramp, run over by thousands of impatient drivers every day, and you can see the potential. The Singaporean government does too, providing grants to fund the project and two shopping malls there have already signed up to purchase the results. Who knows whether the things will follow our favorite folk duo over to North American shores, but until then you can at least get a similar feel at your local Burger King.
Engadget test drives the Chevy Volt (video)
For a car that's been as eagerly anticipated and hyped as the Chevrolet Volt, seeing it in person is not exactly an awe-inspiring experience. In fact if you don't look twice it's very easy to mistake it for Chevy's Cruze, an eco-friendly (though decidedly traditionally powered) small car. The Volt is, of course, a little more special -- a car with both electric and internal-combustion engines on-board. That's not a particularly rare thing in this age of the Prius, but Chevrolet is being very clear: the Volt is an electric car, not a hybrid, and if you read on after the break we'll tell you exactly why -- and what it's like to drive one. %Gallery-89256%
Tiny, energy-scavenging generators could have big impact
They're far from the only ones working on tiny, energy-harvesting generators, but a group of researchers from the University of Michigan may well be farther along than most. Unlike some similar devices, their generator is able to scavenge even the slightest bits of energy from arbitrary, non-periodic vibrations in everything from bridges to the human body. That may not add up to a huge amount of energy, but the researchers say the generators are able to scrape together enough to keep a wrist watch or a wireless sensor running, or potentially power even a pacemaker by the person's own body movements. Of course, the device likely won't be powering anything beyond the lab anytime soon -- the researchers are still going through various prototypes using different types of energy conversion, and are naturally working to patent it as well.
Solaroad's CubeTube adds solar panels to your cube, lowers the cost of you working there
It's 2010, which means there's a significant chance that your cubicle work could be done from absolutely anywhere. For those still stuck under the burden of old-school management, here's an idea that might just nab you that raise you've been longing for: the CubeTube. Engineered by Solaroad Technologies, this indoor photovoltaic electrical generator straps onto the edges and tops of conventional cubicles and collects light from every angle. Internal batteries are charged up, and power is instantly available for the decade-old Latitude and CRT monitor that's still residing on your desk. It sounds like you'll need to ping the company directly for pricing quotes and the like, but if you managers are seriously considering this for your office, maybe they should first calculate the cost and carbon savings from letting their subordinates telecommute. Just sayin'.
Piezoelectric nanowires could lead to blood-powered iPods, cellphones
You know what'll be awesome? Actual end products resulting from this presumably nonstop research on piezoelectric nanowires. Yet again we're hearing of a new group of researchers that have figured out a way to harness electricity from life's simplest things: walking, a heart beating or even the flowing of blood. Put simply, the gurus have discovered how to use zinc oxide nanowires in order to generate an electric current when "subjected to mechanical stress." The difference here, however, is that these critters could actually be implanted under the skin, though the scientists have made quite clear that there isn't a timetable for commercial production. In other words: yawn.[Via textually, image courtesy of NSF]
Jacketed hamsters demonstrate movement-powered nanogenerators
Imagine this -- one day, with enough steroids, your pet hamster actually could power your home by just running on its wheel. Georgia Tech researchers have discovered ways to "convert even irregular biomechanical energy into electricity," and it's demonstrating the finding by showing off jacket-wearing rodents that are game to run. According to the institution's Zhong Lin Wang, the minuscule nanogenerators "can convert any mechanical disturbance into electrical energy," which theoretically means that power can be driven by simple, irregular mechanical motion such as the vibration of vocal cords, flapping of a flag or the tapping of fingers. As with most of these university discoveries, there's no telling how soon this stuff will be pushed out to the commercial realm, but at least they've found something to keep the rats busy during the off hours. [Via news:lite, thanks Charles]
Solar-powered Voltaic Generator laptop bag gets reviewed
Voltaic's Generator solar bag first hit the scene at CES 2008, and it has just now begun to filter out to deep-pocketed, environmentally-friendly laptop owners. The crew over at Laptop Mag was able to take it for a spin, and overall, they seemed a bit perturbed by the whole thing. It was not particularly ergonomic, it always fell over on itself when sitting idly on the floor and it was just too heavy to be lugged around with any level of comfort. Furthermore, there aren't enough options for laptop connectivity, meaning that lots of people will probably be left in the cold due to the limited support for notebook models. Reviewers felt that $499 was simply too much to ask for such a cumbersome device, and if two hours of extra life is worth that much to you, you're probably better off buying another battery and donating the rest to a green cause.
Sanyo builds prototype pedometer that powers itself while you walk
These portable power generating options are a dime a dozen now, but we thought you'd still want to know that Sanyo has invented a device that'll let you turn your health obsession into electricity to power your health obsession -- a vicious cycle if we've ever seen one. It's a pedometer that generates just enough energy (40 microwatts) to keep itself ticking when the swinging motion of its health-nut wearer's body causes tiny parts to move around. Sanyo hopes to use the technology for other low-power devices in the future. As for us, we'd rather remain utterly otiose and let our battery slaves do the work for us, though we can imagine something like this might, with some improvements, prove useful to those villagers who have to walk 12 miles to charge their cell phones. [Warning: read link requires subscription]
Bucket-based hydroelectric generator powers up small gadgets
Never mind those ginormous dam-based hydroelectric generators -- we've got a much smaller version that you can actually use in your backyard. The Pico Hydroelectric Generator was installed within a 5-gallon bucket by Sam Redfield in order to convert the energy from "existing gravity fed irrigation, fresh water, or waste water systems" into usable electricity that can juice up your cellphone, DAP, portable fan / water-bottle combo, etc. Regrettably, there's not a whole heap of details beyond that, but you can check out another angle in the read link below.
Army generators turn garbage into energy, energy into freedom
Leave it to the Army to start putting garbage to good use. According to reports, a base in Baghdad known as Camp Victory has been getting some of its electricity from generators that turn waste products into sweet, succulent fuel. The device, dubbed the Tactical Garbage to Energy Refinery (or TGER, for short) can take food slop, plastic, paper, styrofoam, annoying kids, moist towelettes, or smaller, non-functioning versions of itself and mash them down to synthetic gas and hydrous ethanol. Of course the concept isn't without its shortcomings, as it pumps a hefty load of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere -- but for a place that's short of fuel and high on trash, it's a dream come true.[Via Wired; Image courtesy US Army]
ElectraTherm's Green Machine converts waste heat into electricity
Converting residual industrial heat into something usable (read: electricity) has proven to be more than a novel concept on more than one occasion, and ElectraTherm's giving the process one more vote of confidence by installing its Green Machine at Southern Methodist University. Just this past week, the firm flipped on its first commercial waste heat generator at the Dallas-based institution, with hopes to generate "fuel-free, emissions-free electricity at three to four cents per kW/hr during payback period and under a penny/kW hour thereafter." The 50kW rig has so far exceeded expectations, and the firm is now forecasting that its units will have a "subsidy-free payback period of three years or less." Of course, we aren't told exactly how many zeros reside on the left of the decimal or anything, but folks in the area can get a tour of the installation later this month.[Image courtesy of Jetson Green]
Scanning wallet cards into the iPhone
This is pretty much genius. Like Albert, I have a bunch of "membership cards" in my wallet -- they're those cards with a barcode or number on them that you get from places like the local grocery store, or some other retailer. They're useful to have around, but they tend to pile up after a while, and pretty soon, your wallet gets to be a brick of barcodes rather than anything you'd actually want to carry around in your pocket. Albert's solution was to scan all of his barcodes into the iPhone, front and back, as an iPhoto album. And lo and behold, just like the paperless boarding passes we posted about a while back, it worked. All of the barcodes were scannable, which means no more countless membership cards -- just a gallery in your iPhone.We've already heard of barcodes reading both on and off of the iPhone, of course, and we'll hopefully see more of this when the SDK drops in just about a month here (maybe, in the future, someone will write an app to generate barcodes from numbers, so you don't even need to get a clear scan). But even without an external app, this is pretty handy solution to clearing up some of the clutter in your wallet. Obviously, for anything important (driver's license, credit cards), an iPhone scan won't do. But just to get the membership prices down at the Jewel-Osco, scanning wallet cards into an iPhone seems to work just fine. Very nice.[via Waxy]
Piezing dress generates power, attracts nerds as wearer moves
Solar-powered dresses are so two years ago. These days, dames in the know are all about that piezoelectric material, evidenced by the incredibly flashy Piezing. Dreamed up and designed by Amanda Parkes, this piece of garb is all set to steal the show at the 2ndSkin expo in San Francisco, and according to CNET, it features electricity-generating fabrics around the joints of the elbows and hips. When the wearer walks, bends or gets downright nasty on the dance floor, the mechanical stress conjures up energy which is stored as voltage in a built-in battery where it can presumably be used later for charging your favorite handheld gizmo. Sure gets our electrons flowing.[Via textually, image courtesy of James Patten]Read - 2ndSkin expoRead - CNET article on Piezing
Phoenix Wright case generator: choose your own OBJECTION!
To promote the release of the first three Gyakuten Saiban games on PC in episodic format, Capcom has released an Ace Attorney case creator. It's all in Japanese, but the editor is self-evident enough; you can choose characters, locations, music, and graphical effects for each scene; you can make each character perform three actions per scene, and you can write their text. The text is severely limited, since the editor is designed for strings of kanji, which of course means fewer characters. You could just use more scenes to write more text, though.Getting in is somewhat more difficult, since you need to sign up with Daletto. Luckily, there's a tutorial for navigating the Japanese signup page on Court Records. It's totally worth the trouble to be able to create near-instant Phoenix Wright animations. We only wish this had come out a couple of months ago. Check after the break for our first brief dalliance with Tsukurou! Gyakuten Saiban (Let's Create! Gyakuten Saiban).
Video of the yeast-and-sugar powered generator in action: experience the power of boring
Remember that yeast-and-sugar-powered generator from Dr. Cedrick Ngalande of Malawi we spotted a while back? Ol' Ced's back with a video of the system in action -- and an explanation of how it works, to boot. Just as most of you guessed, the system is powered by the yeast / sugar mix giving off CO2, leading to a pressure imbalance which tips the center of gravity and causes motion. What most of you didn't guess, however, is how freaking slowly that would happen -- check out the video after the break, and then wake up and wipe the drool off your face, slick.[Via BoingBoing]
Voltaic's new Generator solar bag can charge a laptop
There are plenty of solar bags on the market which can squeeze some extra juice into your phone or handheld, or perhaps even trickle a charge into your laptop over a few days, but Voltaic is launching the first member of its lineup to fully charge a laptop with a day of sunlight. The "Generator" bag produces 14.7 watts from a single solar panel, but that's only with a full day of sun, so we're guessing you'll end up getting much less of a laptop charge with a normal day of use. In addition to a laptop plug the bag includes adapters for phones, USB devices and a car charger, and there's a battery inside the bag to improve the efficiency of the panel and to keep the juice flowing when you're in the shade. It all sounds great, but the bad news here is the price: $599. Yeah, your money might be better spent on a few spares batteries, but if you're going to be spending a week or so away from plugs, the Generator just might be the ticket.
HydroPak water-activated fuel-cell generator unveiled
While still quite a ways away from our ideal method of drawing power directly from tap water, the new HydroPak generator from Millennium Cell and Horizon Fuel Cell at least trumps those heavy, dirty, traditional models in both cleanliness and efficiency. As we first heard a few months back, this water-activated, fuel cell-based "portable power product" uses $20 disposable cartridges to provide "enough energy to recharge an average notebook computer 8 to 10 times" or "operate low power devices such as portable lights, notebook computers, portable televisions and ad hoc communications networks for more than 14 continuous hours," via AC outlet or dual USB jacks. Also on display at CES alongside the $400 unit will be a smaller version called the HydroPak Mini, a prototype device designed to juice up gadgets such as cellphones or gaming systems.[Via Gadget Lab]
Yeast and sugar generator can power cellphones, but how does it work?
This yeast-and-sugar powered generator invented by Dr. Cedrick Ngalande of Malawi can supposedly power cellphones, OLPCs, and medical devices for up to eight hours, but apart from a few vague guesses involving CO2, oscillating motion, and a couple Sharper Image desk toys we've got lying around, we're utterly at a loss to explain how it works. Ideas, leave 'em in comments![Via Afrigadget]
Water-activated portable power generator on the horizon
We've seen our fair share of diminutive power generators, but rather than worrying with vibrations or hyperventilating, Millennium Cell and Horizon Fuel Cell have teamed up to deliver an iteration that's water-activated. The pair has been working together on this technology for some time now, and apparently, it's readying a beta that will be demonstrated at next year's CES. The portable power generator incorporates a "unique water-activated cartridge system," which is designed to quietly provide clean energy to consumer products in emergencies and when far, far away from an electrical outlet. Reportedly, the device will provide an AC socket alongside two USB connectors, an operating time of over 16-hours, infinite shelf-storage life and 400-watts of instant juice by just adding H2O. Regrettably, we still have no idea what this thing actually looks like, but considering that CES is less than two months away, we'll soon be seeing what this $400 gizmo can do up close and in person.
Innovative Hymini charges gadgets using sun, wind, AC, or USB
There's no shortage of green solar- or wind-powered ways to juice up your gadgets these days, but rarely do we see a charger that employs both together -- along with the reliable old power grid -- for sweet, sweet redundancy. The Hymini from startup MINIWIZ was first conceived by founder Arthur Huang in an MIT business class, and combines a micro turbine generator with a 1200mA/h lithium ion rechargeable battery that can also be filled via USB, AC, or an optional array of up to four miniSOLAR solar panels. According to published specs, the device -- which has yet to be priced or released -- will operate at wind speeds between 9mph and 40mph, with a 20-minute session in 19mph winds providing enough power for between four minutes of talk time (cellphone) and forty minutes of music playback (flash-based DAP). Very promising indeed, yet of limited utility until we find a gadget that ensures we don't leave all these handy supplemental charging products in the bottom drawer of our desk when we actually need them.[Via Crave]
