We’ve seen quite a few portable
eco-friendly chargers surface over the past few months. There’s the Power Pump from Orage, Suntrica’s Flexible Solar Charger, even a DIY Solar Charger. But
none of them compare to the sheer effortless-ness that the nPower PEG (Personal
Energy Generator) offers.
From Tremont Electric, the PEG is a 9×1.5
inch portable kinetic energy converter, enabling users to harness the
expenditures of humdrum activities such as walking down stairs and stepping
into the elevator. And unlike many kinetic chargers, the PEG need not be
strapped to your body to generate electricity. According to Tremont Electric,
the PEG can function simply by being placed in a purse or backpack. Though, for better results, you can also strap the PEG to your leg while you bike or your wrist while you play Wii.
Another unique trait of the PEG is that
rather than charging a battery that will then charge a device, it relies on
being directly connected to a device, performing on-demand charging through
kinetic conversion. This has it’s upsides (less hardware means a smaller design;
gratification that your phone is being charged that very mo(ve)ment) and it’s
downsides (devices would have to be stored together, so you’d have to keep your
phone in your backpack, rather than your pocket).
Tremont Electric claims that the PEG is
compatible with 90 percent of portable electronics, from cell phones to GPS
devices. That compatible percentage includes BlackBerry, iPhone, iPod, LG
Chocolate, Magellan GPS, Nintendo DS Lite, Palm Treo, as well as phones
manufactured by Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Sanyo, and Sony.
The charging rate for the PEG is approximately
80 percent per hour on most common portable electronics, leading Tremont to
claim 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.”
The PEG uses a USB connection and ships
with 2 cables of your choice to connect with your gadgets.
Currently it’s only available on pre-order
but we’ll keep you posted.
