Posts tagged Power at Switched

Posts with tag power

Offshore Wind Power Park to Energize Delaware Homes

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 29th 2008 at 11:25AM

Unlike Rock Port, Missouri, the entire state of Delaware won't be 100-percent wind-powered after Bluewater Wind constructs a $1.6 billion wind park just off its shore, but the state will be able to "light about 50,000 homes a year" for the duration of the 25-year contract. Said agreement was just nailed down between the aforesaid firm and Delmarva Power, and it hopes to start powering homes via wind by 2012.

The offshore site will sit around 12 miles off Rehoboth Beach, with a number of turbines to be planted 90-feet into the sea floor and sport three blades apiece measuring 150-feet long. It's noted that vacationers and locals alike won't be able to notice the park from the beach except on a few remarkably clear days, but if their energy bills sink because of it, we don't really think they'll mind, anyway. [Source: CNN]

Seadog Pump Could Usher in an Ocean-Powered Revolution

by Terrence O'Brien, posted May 29th 2008 at 11:03AM

Generating usable amounts of power without burning fossil fuels or collecting piles of nuclear sludge has become the holy grail of the environmental movement and much of the scientific community. Solar has proven too expensive and inefficient so far, while wind power is criticized as unsightly and occasionally dangerous to wildlife.

Scientists have been searching for a way to harness the power of ocean waves and tidal flows, with varying degrees of success. Salt water corrodes electronics and the forces involved aren't nearly as dramatic as those at work at Niagara Falls or the Hoover Dam. A company out of Minnesota, Independent Natural Resources (INR), has developed the Seadog Pump, which churns out power from ocean waves at a relatively high efficiency, converting 22 percent of the ocean wave energy into usable energy. The Seadog also lacks any electronics, making it extraordinarily cheap and simple to build as well as making it much more resistant to the corrosive powers of the sea.

INR plans to have their first commercial facility up and running by the end of the year or early 2009. [Source: Crave]

Charge Up Batteries By Pedaling Away Under Your Desk

by Tim Stevens, posted May 9th 2008 at 11:20AM

Looking for a really alternative way to power your gadgets? Here's a an innovative and totally renewable option out of China that lets your legs do the charging. Called "ENERGIZED by YOU," the roughly $140 gadget is a simple pedal-powered generator tied to a small, removable battery. Pedal away and you'll charge the battery up. Then, you can remove the gadget from the pedal base, plug in your gadgets, and let them pull some juice.

It also has a little LED flashlight built-in that (if we're reading the Google-translated page correctly) gives a whopping 72-hours of light per charge. Impressive -- if you don't mind carrying around a giant, brick-shaped flashlight. [Source: BoingBoing]

Wireless Power Set for Devices of All Sizes, Maybe iPhone

by Tim Stevens, posted Apr 10th 2008 at 8:14PM

While it may seem as though we live in a wireless age, with gadgets of all shapes and sizes filling our pockets, in actuality we're just visiting. At the end of the day we run home and plug everything in, recharging drained batteries for the next day of exploring out in the juice-less wilderness. That's about to change, as wireless power technologies are approaching prime time. One company on the forefront of the advance thinks that its technology is ready for adoption by the gadget world at large, specifically Apple and its ubiquitous portable devices.

The company is called eCoupled. It produces a wireless power receiver integrated into a component about the size of a quarter, but thinner. The component uses magnetic fields to receive power without wires, charging the battery in the device and juicing it up (similar to how many rechargeable toothbrushes work). Unfortunately, the range is extremely low (nothing like the MIT prototype we reported on last year), basically requiring the device to sit on a custom charging pad that could be built into a countertop.

So, we're not talking about juicing up your iPhone while you wander around your apartment with it in your pocket. But throwing it down on your desk to recharge is a bit more convenient than slotting it into its charging cradle. Add two or three other charging cradles, plus the requisite nest of AC adapter cords, and suddenly the benefits of this sort of technology start to become apparent -- at least for those with an aversion to twisted cable messes.

That said, eCouple's particular implementation of this technology isn't quite there yet and it's still likely to be a year or more before any mainstream gadgets -- like wireless mice that charge themselves through their mouspads -- start showing up.

From AppleInsider

Survivor Tech: Gadgets That Can Save Your Life

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jan 10th 2008 at 11:57AM

If you've turned on the Discovery Channel at all in the last year you might have noticed that survival is quite the draw. The popularity of shows like 'Survivor Man' and 'Man Vs. Wild' is not only drawing viewers to Discover, though, it's also helping draw attention to an entire cottage industry of gear designed to help you avoid the very situations (read: deadly ones) we love to watch Bear Grylls stick himself in.

Well, the gadget industry has always catered to those in dicey and potentially lethal situations, but we've noticed a certain proliferation in survival gizmos this year at CES. Check out some of our favorites in the following pages.

Next >>

Get Power from Your Own Blood?

by Tim Stevens, posted Jul 23rd 2007 at 2:17PM

Doctors have been stuffing electrical devices like artificial hearts and hearing aids into the bodies of patients for decades now, but there's always been a challenge: Power. These internal gadgets either rely on batteries that need replacement via surgery or get their power from external sources, resulting in unsightly wires or contacts protruding from the body (internal hearing aids are sometimes in the skin behind the ear, while older pacemakers have wires coming out out of the stomach or under the arm).

Now, some scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology might have a solution: a tiny, tiny nanogenerator that can produce electricity just by being placed in your bodily fluids.

The devices generate power via ultrasonic waves, which are captured and turned into a small amount of current. The details of just how this works are somewhat scant at the moment, but we're guessing there aren't any turbines involved and that the amount of juice able to be extracted from your own juice won't enable you to give your car a jump start on a cold morning just by licking your fingers and touching the battery contacts. But, the hope here is that small devices patrolling your bloodstream or monitoring your vitals could provide their own power, potentially enabling them to work indefinitely -- well, until you dry out anyway.

From Engadget

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How to Max Out Your Laptop's Battery Life

by Tom Conlon, posted Jul 18th 2007 at 9:38AM

Whether you're traveling for business or playing Solitaire on the beach, long lasting laptop life is a must. Here's how to squeeze the most juice out of your notebook's power store.

Related Links:

Wireless Electricity = WiTricity

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jun 8th 2007 at 1:17PM

Though it's too early to throw out our AC adapters and powerstrips, a team at MIT has taken us one step closer to a wire-free existence by managing to power a 60 Watt lightbulb from seven feet away without any cords! WiTricity, as the technology is being called, uses the simple physics of resonance.

Resonance causes an object to vibrate when energy at a certain frequency is applied. This is similar to the premise behind the old shattering wine glass gag. If a glass resonates at the same frequency as the singers voice, it will vibrate and shatter once enough pressure has built up. In the case of WiTricity, a charging device sends out low-frequency electromagnetic waves to a gadget. If those waves and the gadget to be powered resonate at the same frequency, presto, you've got wireless electricity. Of course, it's not that simple, but that's the gist anyway.

This technology has the potential to power a roomful of gadgets and appliances with just wireless charging device. It can even work through obstacles, including walls. The next step for the group is to shrink the technology down since the current copper coils used for demonstrations are two feet wide.

And before the paranoid technophobes out there start beating their drum again, let it be known that there is no danger to humans from this technology. The field is almost entirely magnetic and the human body doesn't respond to magnetic fields.

From USA Today and BBC

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Powerstrip for Your Car

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Apr 17th 2007 at 5:02PM

If you read this site, there's a pretty good chance that you have lots of shiny electronic toys. There's also a good chance that you need to charge your gadgets on the go. Enter the Coleman Headrest Powerworks, a one or two outlet power inverter that plugs into your cigarette lighter and turns your car's DC to AC with standard plugs, so you can use your existing power cords to get juice. Like any other power strip, all the outlets are grounded. What's more, this one comes with Velcro straps to hook it over your car's headrest.

We must agree with BookofJoe, however. Why not just build regular outlets into the car to begin with?

from BookofJoe

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Offshore Wind Power Park to Energize Delaware Homes

Seadog Pump Could Usher in an Ocean-Powered Revolution

Charge Up Batteries By Pedaling Away Under Your Desk

Wireless Power Set for Devices of All Sizes, Maybe iPhone

Survivor Tech: Gadgets That Can Save Your Life

Get Power from Your Own Blood?

How to Max Out Your Laptop's Battery Life

Wireless Electricity = WiTricity

Powerstrip for Your Car

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