Hasta La Gadget!

The nPower PEG is exactly the kind of thing that would have airport security asking you some rather awkward questions, and perhaps also earn you some childish snickers. The rather utilitarian phallus is in fact a kinetic energy generator which charges gadgets as it moves.

The PEG (personal energy generator) makes electricity as you move, harvesting your expended energy like the Matrix harvests your battery-like human meat-bag. It is made from titanium, and outputs standard USB power, which can be piped through a variety of different cables into iOS devices, BlackBerries and other cellphones. And that is all we know. The FAQ, the spec page and even the compatibility pages are almost willfully free of real information.

For instance, do you wonder how it works? I did, so I followed the treasure-trail of links to the penultimate teaser:

The science behind our technology is based on the Faraday principle and Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity. Our technology is scientifically unique enough to receive a patent, yet very simple to use. Read.

Excited, I clicked the read link and found:

An average human walking up a set of stairs will expend around 200 Watts of power. When you recharge your cell phone (including iPhones) the most amount of power it will accept is 2.5 Watts. The nPower® PEG can harvest your walking power and deliver it to your phone to recharge the battery without you knowing that it is working.

Where’s the science? There is no mention of Einstein to be found. Now, I did some science in school, so I can guess that the PEG probably just has a magnet inside, bouncing up and down in a copper coil and generating a current which is then smoothed out to safely enter a UBS-powered device. But if you’re going to drop $150, the price of the PEG, on a mysterious metal tube, it would be nice to know what it has inside. Especially if you are taking it through airport security.

How the nPower PEG “works” [nPower PEG. Thanks, Steve!]

See Also:

• Orbo Strikes Back: Perpetual Motion Machine Demonstrated
• Power From the People: Converting Your Kinetic Energy Into Electricity