There are quite a few ‘green’ mobile electronic charging devices out on the market right now (Freeloader, Solio, Sidewinder), but most of them either require to be deployed in a certain way, i.e. solar chargers, or require some type of specific user applied energy to function, i.e. hand chargers. A few of these devices work great, if they’re used in the manner in which they were designed, but almost all of them will not work simply ‘on their own’. A new kinetic energy charger is aiming to do all the work for you, without you having to do much more than move.
Scheduled to hit retail markets next month is the long anticipated, and hyped, kinetic energy mobile electronic charger called the nPower PEG (Personal Energy Generator) by Tremont Electric. The charger is designed to harness a fraction of the kinetic energy created from a person, when he or she is walking or running, and then use that energy to charge an array of mobile electronic devices such as cell phones, cameras, iPods, GPS, etc. The company claims that it charges at the same rate as a plug in charger. In roughly an hour, your mobile phone, or whatever, will be 80% charged.
It Likes You To Move It Move It
The basic concept behind the PED is simple kinetic energy. An average sized human, who size seems to be getting larger everyday, produces about 200 watts of kinetic energy when in motion. The nPower PEG utilizes up to about 4 watts of that energy to supply a charge to whatever device it’s hooked up to. Unlike previous incarnations of kinetic chargers, the nPower PEG isn’t a battery, nor does it contain one like older kinetic chargers which were essentially batteries you charged as you walked then would connect to devices later. The nPower PEG sends a charge when in motion and doesn’t when it’s not.
In order for the nPower PEG to do it’s thing, you need to do yours; namely move and keep it in a vertical position (not necessarily like the awkwardly posed woman in their promo picture below). Because it utilizes a piston-like device inside, it will only work if in a relatively vertical position. At 9″ tall and 1.5″ in diameter, the lightweight aluminum bodied device isn’t heavy, but it’s not exactly tiny either. If you’re walking/running without a backpack or deep pocket, the nPower PEG might resemble a futuristic pepper spray can strapped to your waistline, which depending on where you walk or run, might not be a bad thing.
It’s Not Going To Save Any Glaciers From Melting
Though a seemingly effective device for the application for which it was designed, the nPower PEG isn’t something you purchase and then call it a day on your ‘green deed’ for the year. While it does indeed provide a clean renewable energy source for your portable electronics, the PEG’s overt environmental advertising is a little heavy-handed and somewhat misleading when you analyze its ‘energy saving’ benefits over the entire lifecycle of the product. Its company claims that:
“If our entire target market used the PEG to recharge their cell phones for an hour each day, instead of plugging into a wall outlet, they would reduce the amount of electricity needed from the grid by 25.4 million kilowatts. –That’s enough energy to power 21,000 households for an entire year!”
While on paper this may hold true, in reality such frequency and quantity of usage most likely would be half of what the above is based of…at best. It would be tough to find millions of people wanting to purchase a PEG who also walk or run an hour everyday. Also, this assumes everyone who would be willing to purchase a PEG in fact does so. At an estimated $150 a pop, I think their projections can be reduced even further.
Aside from the accuracy of Tremont Electric’s various ‘guesstimates’ about their projected sales and usage, a sustainability-minded individual needs to objectively weigh the actual energy saving benefits the PEG can offer. Given the embodied energy of the PEG, it would most likely take a lot of usage before an owner could get into the black in terms of a positive net amount of energy created. With its aluminum body, electrical components, packaging, and transportation, the PEG, with most owners, will most likely have consumed more energy to make than the energy it will save during its lifetime.
The Good: A hands-off charger that supplies free energy from a 100% renewable clean (assuming you bath)source. Simplistic design and concept. Works with 90% of all mobile devices. Encourages people to get off the couch. Recyclable.
The Bad: When taking into account the level of usage the PEG is likely to see with most owners, coupled with the energy it took to produce, it’s likely its existence ends up using more energy and producing more carbon than it’s designed to save. It’s expensive.
The Bottom-Line: Like many green products, the PEG, on the surface, seems like a great idea. But if you’re goal in purchasing items like the PEG is to do something good for the environment, then you’re better of not buying it and instead spend that $150 on a really nice organic garden for yourself and friends.
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