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Human-powered wishlist

November 5th, 2007

sustainability

For Christmas last year, I got instructions on how to make a home-made Pedal Generator, but I don’t think I’m mechanically inclined enough to make it happen (and I don’t really have the time anyway). This year, I want a mass-produced Human Powered Generator ($550), which charges a 12-volt battery or the Portable Power Pack ($475) , which provides a 120-volt AC plug.

Alternatively, I could get the foot pump generator ($290) which I think might work with the Portable Power Pack above? Or this Xantrex XPower Powerpack 400 Plus ($140) which appears to do the same thing.

And here’s the PowerMonkey ($60), a universal power adapter so you can charge whatever device with its proprietary battery on the go.

Also intriguing is a 10 Watt solar panel ($130). Not all that useful at this latitude and with Seattle’s climate. I’d prefer to turn sushi into electricity with leg power.

For transportation, this “Human Car” ($5k-$17k) looks pretty neat, but it won’t be available until at least next year.

Nothing to do with anything but this is pretty neat.

I was thinking about getting this LED reading light ($30), but it requires 4 AAA batteries (for 100 hours). I guess LEDs require some serious voltage.

Finally, in preparation for the coming apocalypse, I’ll definitely need a hand-cranked portable light and cell phone charger ($50).

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Comments

2 Responses to “Human-powered wishlist”

  1. nebkor on November 5th, 2007 5:41 pm

    Hey, Saul. LEDs don’t need so much; my guess is that the four batterise are 2-in-series in parallel. From http://www.theledlight.com/LED101.html :

    First you need to know the LED voltage drop. It is safe enough to assume 1.7 volts for non-high-brightness red, 1.9 volts for high-brightness, high-efficiency and low-current red, and 2 volts for orange and yellow, and 2.1 volts for green. Assume 3.4 volts for bright white, bright non-yellowish green, and most blue types. Assume 4.6 volts for 430 nM bright blue types such as Everbright and Radio Shack. Design for 12 milliamps for the 3.4 volt types and 10 milliamps for the 430 NM blue.

  2. david sowerwine on November 7th, 2007 2:53 am

    Saul, Drop by our website to see a comfortable way to convert calories into watt-hours. We’re just finishing field trials in 14 villages in Nepal, one in Haiti, and hope to have this system, and it’s companion energy-distribution system out in time for Christmas 2008, in case Santa doesn’t fill your stocking to the limit. http://ecosystemsnepal.com or
    http://globalgiving.com/pr/1300/proj1207a.html

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