Let’s face it: the future is grand and
today is the future. We have the entire body of human knowledge (aka the
internet) at our fingertips wherever we are. Every piece of music ever
produced can be had at the touch of a button while on the bus (I’m referring
to one of those gianormous iPods, you know which one I mean). On a plane you
can watch the entire Monty Pythons series (a circumnavigation flight with a few layovers). But
they’re all for naught when faced with a power electronmagnetic blast. Luckily,
those don’t happen all that often. What does happen all too often is the
low-battery light coming on the midst of your favourite concept album. But
never fear, portable green energy is here to save the day.
Many a technophile is well aware of the
energy that can be had from the simple, everyday motions of the wrist. Citizen
has made carved a niche in the watch market with their Eco-Drive line that
converts kinetic movements into the time of day. But what you may not know is
that your wrist is good for another kind of energy as well. I’m talking of
course about the Seebeck effect. Huh? Well, it seems that when two contrasting
temperatures encounter one another there is electricity to be had. The Dyson
Energy Bracelet capitalizes on that effect by collecting the energy to be had
between your skin temperature and the temperature of the surrounding air. The
proposed device would be worn on a user’s wrist, passively collecting energy.
After several hours the bracelet is then easily plugged into a portable device,
such as a cell phone or mp3 player, with no additional cables or attachments.
Unfortunately, the energy return in this early version is rather minimal. We’re
talking several hours of wear for a handful of minutes of talk-time.
But that’s okay. In an emergency, it could
be indispensable. What’s more, it makes for a nice eco-friendly fashion
statement. It even sports a nifty LED indicator so you know how much power
you’re packing on your wrist. Perhaps even more promising is the thought of
pairing this technology up with a kinetic converter. Maybe my wrist are
destined for greater things after all!
There’s no official word on when the Dyson
Energy Bracelet will be released or what it will cost but we’ll keep you
posted.
