Last year Japanese NTT announced a new shoe based on kinetic energy that could give up to 1.2Watt, or enough to charge an iPod. The shoe is filled with water pressed with each step into a small turbine that generates electricity (think a micro version of the Hoover Dam).
In the past, expeditions lugged generators to BC (more on this tomorrow).
Wind generators (far right in image) are most effective when on a reach (sailing against the wind) and too big for ocean rowing boats. Expedition images by HumanEdgeTech (click to enlarge).
10:32 am CDT Oct 28, 2009
(HumanEdgeTech.com) "The secret of war lies in the communications," said Napoleon.
Following the K2 ordeal last year, most veteran climbers agreed that better use of satellite phones and radios would have aided rescue efforts. In a surprising number of cases, power - not hardware - was the weak link.
The genie in the bottle
Appraised at billions, Google and Twitter are all the rage while the genius is still to be found who can rid our mailboxes of simple spam. The same goes for power. Overflowing with cool gadgets, the world has yet to come up with a way to charge your laptop straight from a solar panel.
Power becomes a different animal when away from wall outlets and attempts to generate it have been imaginative among explorers and the military. Below some examples.
The shoe
Power is energy. Energy is everywhere but it's always constant. We can't make power but we can harvest it - from the sun, the wind, various fuels etc. We can transform it into electricity, control it - and store it for a rainy day; that's what batteries are for. Because energy is everywhere people have studied everything in the recent gold rush for new sources to tap.
Last year Japanese NTT announced a new shoe filled with water. Based on kinetic energy the shoe could give up to 1.2Watt, or enough to charge an iPod. With each step, the water is pressed into a small turbine that generates electricity (think a micro version of the Hoover Dam).
It wasn't the first try to walk and charge. Earlier attempts have involved small springs under the sole connected to a generator, as well as attempts to harness the pressure itself. The Army was interested but scrubbed the project last we heard as they didn't think the achieved effect balanced the weight.
The floor
Certain materials (crystals, ceramics, bone) generate energy under stress. The piezoelectric effect has been known for more than 200 years and while we have yet to find an effective way to utilize it, in Japan a subway floor has been replaced with piezoelectrics in an attempt to harness the energy of thousands daily pedestrians.
Piezoelectrics has been tried in shoes, backpack-straps etc. The technology is not there yet, but keep an eye out for it in the future.
The crank
During the 2003 New York City blackout some people brought out emergency radios on the streets. Such radios can be cranked up by hand (there are also smaller hand cranking devices used to power mobile phones).
Most folks just switched on their car radios though, and we understood why in our own attempt to power up an emergency radio later on. A mad crank for about half an hour showed little change in charge so we scrubbed the idea, at least for true outdoor life.
The marine wind generator
On the market for decades, small wind generators are familiar to most sailors who use them while in harbor or on anchor to keep their batteries charged (now more frequently done with solar) and to generate electricity on longer trips. In theory, a wind generator will charge 24/7 and generate 20-60Watt per hour at a cost of $1000 to $3000 per unit.
Drawbacks include weight, noise (especially below deck), and the need for a 5-10 mph wind to start a charge at all. Also, wind generators are most effective when on a reach (sailing against the wind) while most long distance sailors travel with the wind which significantly reduces the input.
Ocean rowing boats are not stable enough to hold a towering wind generator and with average winds too low for the trouble; the technology is neither optimal for places such as Everest base camp.
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