Eco Factor: Hand-powered flashlight doesn’t need batteries.
Apart from irregular energy, another drawback associated with renewable energy systems is their dependence on toxic batteries, which do end up polluting the environment once they are discarded. Though battery-less solar and wind energy are concepts of the future, Lavrans Laading’s flashlight tells how it could be achieved. All the flashlight carries is an LED, a spring system and a generator.
As the user rotates the generator by rotating the light, energy is saved in the form of kinetic energy of the spring, which is then released slowly by the generator. The prototype can run up to 2-3 minutes on a single charge, which of course would be increased using better technology.
The Dark Side:
The current specs of the torch will only make it a demonstration device, with no or very little practical importance. Using a better generator and a better winding mechanism will increase the efficiency of the flashlight, but will show its effects on the cost too.
Via: DesignBoom
