The Cell Phone Energy Diet

GREEN IS GOOD
by Margaret Smith

For many people today, it's safe to say that having a cell phone is a necessity. Your cell phone is like a ready-made life raft of sorts, just ready and waiting to keep you afloat.

Well, almost always ready. When it doesn't unexpectedly die on you, at least.

Imagine, for a second, that you're stuck in the middle of nowhere and your car breaks down. Pulled over to the side of the road, you take you're cell phone out of your pocket. You're about to dial a number, when suddenly you peer down at the battery life and realize that your on your last bar... and it's flashing.

Uh-oh.

Your heart's in your throat as you start to dial. Then suddenly... CLICK. The screen goes dead.

"Wait, what? My cell phone's dead? Why is my cell phone dead? And there's no outlet plug in sight! What am I going to do?!"

Well, Aaron LeMeiux seems to have found that answer.

It comes in the form of the Personal Energy Generator (PEG), developed by LeMeiux's company Tremont Electricity. About the size of your average flashlight, the PEG takes the kinetic energy humans develop through physical activity and uses it to recharge small, electronic devices such as your phone, camera, or iPod.

Most mobile electronic devices only require 2.5 watts of power to fully recharge themselves, LeMeiux told NPR.

"So, in the end, all we have to do is harvest 2.5 percent of your human walking energy, without you knowing it, and put it in your mobile electronic device," he said.

The PEG does just that. Place it in your bag or on your hip, attach it to the device that you need to charge using a standard USB cord, and the PEG does the rest. With each step you take, magnets inside the generator bounce back and forth off the springs inside it, creating electricity. According to LeMeiux, a leisurely walk could produce the same amount of wall-outlet-level power.

LeMeiux came up with the idea when he was stuck in the middle of nowhere -- literally. As the story goes, he was hiking along the Appalachian trail, but he would constantly have to stop at small towns along the way to buy new batteries for his Walkman. For a mechanical engineer like himself, it was a problem just waiting to be solved.

And it could also be the solution to a bigger one. Technology has always been a source of comfort for most people; something that is intended to make our lives easier. But with cell phones, iPods, video games, travel-sized computers and even remote controls, it's arguable that they've made us lazy. Obesity is one of the largest health problems in the United States today, and according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, only one state in 2008 had a prevalence of obesity less than 20 percent (Colorado).

Using human energy to create electricity isn't a new idea. For years "self-proclaimed eco-nuts and human power enthusiasts" have been using physical activities to fuel small devices in their everyday lives. Could LeMeiux's PEG be the first mainstream device to help create renewable energy and solve the health problem here in America?

We here at BuzzFlash think so, at least. And how? With The Cell Phone Energy Diet. Step aside Atkins, watch out Weight Watchers and move over South Beach Diet, because we have the newest diet craze.

The rules are simple:

1. Buy Tremont Electricity's PEG
2. Throw your cell phone charger away.
3. Walk at least an hour a day so you can recharge your cell phone.
4. Get the exercise and energy life you need!

Even if you're not going to use the PEG, we all know someone who's hard to shop for and also a little too soft around the edges. Tremont Electricity hopes to have the $149 PEG ready for consumers closer to the holiday season.

GREEN IS GOOD

Technorati Tags: Green Is Good Renewable Energy Cell Phone Diet