14 DAY TRIAL // Living in the 21st-century means that one must simply have a cell-phone. Truth be told, how else are we going to efficiently keep tabs on each other and carry on with our daily activities?
However, with about 5 billion such gadgets owned by the general public, it seems that quite a considerable amount of energy is wasted on re-charging them.
While some researchers emphasize using solar power rather than electricity to help diminish the damage made to the environment by these close – yet inanimate – friends of ours, a Kenyan Inventor – Anthony Mutua – came up with an even better idea: why not use the kinetic energy generated by our own bodies when moving to help us re-charge our cell phones?
The main idea is to design and manufacture a high-tech type of sneaker that has a thin crystal chip inserted in its sole.
This crystal chip will be made responsible for generating the power needed to recharge the phone, whilst a long cable will carry the energy all the way up to the walker's pocket or wherever else the phone is to be found.
What is even more fascinating is that, should the pedestrian find himself walking longer distances than his phone's battery calls for, the sneaker can also store the extra amount of energy produced, so that it is used later on.
Greenerideal.com reports that, in an interview given to CNC World, Mutua explained that “This charger works using pressure; as you walk you generate pressure that in turn generates energy, once you have arrived where you were going you can now sit down and charge your mobile phone.”
Anthony recently received sponsorship from Kenya's National Council of Science and Technology so as to begin mass-producing this invention as soon as possible.
Given everyone's growing interest in putting a leash on energy waste, we can only assume that similar technologies will be developed in the not-so-distant future, and that perhaps someday most of our needs for energy will find themselves satisfied without any damage done to the environment.