Cell phones are convenient, but they consume a great deal of electricity, when they’re all added up.. Increasing demand for electricity is the causing for a push for more nuclear power plants and burning of dirty old coal.
Americans could reduce the demand for these dirty energy technologies if they didn’t stick their cell phone chargers into wall sockets quite so often. Does that mean that they would need to talk less on the phone? Not necessarily.
A company called Easy Energy has introduced a device called the Yogen that allows people to translate their muscle power into an electrical charge for cell phones and other mobile devices. It works with a pull cord, which the user yanks on with a motion similar to starting a lawn mower, but smaller. The energy created through this pulling is then transferred through a flywheel, creating an electrical current which then charges a mobile device. The Yogen is hand-sized, so it’s mobile, just like your cell phone itself.
In development by the same company: The Yogen MAX, a foot pedal that will be able to provide power for laptop computers.
