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Green gadget challenge

Posted on 15 Jul 2008 at 16:17

To protect against such mishaps, and to give me a little more power for longer calls (I had begun to rudely convey messages like a particularly enthusiastic auctioneer in order to save power), I would need another source of energy.

Is this a wind up?

One gadget that looked promising was the Freeplay FreeCharge, a hand-cranked charger which can be plugged into any device with a car cigarette-lighter adapter. The 12V power output is surprisingly high, but is delivered in real-time rather than stored in a battery, so fully charging my mobile phone would require a Herculean amount of stamina and wrist-strength that the average technology journalist simply doesn't possess. Ten minutes of intense winding, done away from the mocking eyes of my colleagues, left me with no feeling below the elbow, and no perceptible change in my phone's battery status indicator. This product may be a lifesaver in emergency situations, but in the office was about as much use as a kebab van to a vegan.

Not wanting to give up on the idea of human-generated power, I swapped my sleek and stylish iPod for a wind-up Eco Media Player from Baylis. As well as an LED light and a 1.8in TFT screen, it came with some serious flaws. The design of the bulky player had nothing on Apple's efforts, and its confusing menu system neared incomprehensibility. To its credit, the built-in hand-crank meant it could be easily wound up when needed, requiring no additional devices. It took only a few minutes of winding to generate enough power for a short bus journey, but the hefty size and poor sound quality let it down. I quickly came to two conclusions: passive power sources are better than human-powered ones, and I wanted my iPod back.

If the Eco Media Player was to be returned I would need alternative energy sources to keep my Apple player green. The curiously named Powermonkey-eXplorer offered a solution. This well-designed and rugged solar charger provided an ideal backup for my phone on days when I didn't ride to work, and the spare power could be used to charge up my MP3 player when I did. The small clamshell panel folds neatly in two and is well protected for travelling, but still very light. Helpfully, the battery pack is removable too, so it can be carried as an emergency source of power once charged up. Although I only used my MP3 player for around an hour a day, the Explorer kept it charged, except on the rare occasions when my music had to be sacrificed for extra talktime.

After several days of avoiding plugging either my phone or MP3 player into the grid, I was still listening to my music, and was still making phone calls. Satisfyingly, I had been vindicated; it seems that it's entirely possible to run (small) gadgets (most of the time) with sustainable power.

By now I had turned into an insufferable eco-bore, regularly lecturing my colleagues on the readily available, free and sustainable power that's all around us, how easy it is to run gadgets entirely without help from power companies and generally exuding a smug sense of satisfaction at reducing my carbon footprint.

In reality, however, I was exhausted. No longer could I wake up and come straight to work: I had to prioritise which gadgets I needed that day, scrounge what power I could from the battery packs remaining at home, and ensure that the HYmini was ready for the ride to work. When I got there I had to make sure all of my solar panels were facing the right way, and that the batteries were charging properly. If I failed to do this, then I had no power that day - and a stroppy girlfriend wondering why I hadn't returned her text messages.