Domestic Diversions

A better battery for your laptop?

The New York Times shows the value of “kid power.” Dan Pink writes (excerpt):
Raj Pandian, a professor of engineering and computer science at Tulane University, looked at kids at play and asked not ”Where do they get all that energy?” but rather, ”How can I turn all that energy into power?”
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Two children playing on a seesaw for a half-hour can generate enough power to operate a laptop computer for 20 to 40 minutes. Because the system also stores energy, Pandian says he hopes it will become a reliable and clean source of power for those places, like schools, where there are playgrounds nearby and kids to use them. . . . ”It’s literally free energy,” he says. As long as there are kids at play, the supply is inexhaustible.

One thought on “A better battery for your laptop?

  1. shay

    such an awesome idea…why don’t they make everybody ride or walk or somehow expend energy for their own consumption? not only would it be a source of sustainable energy, but it would cure the prolem of obesity!

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