For a little more than $5, this bright-colored pocketsize dynamo will keep your cell phone charged while you are away from your home plugs. It is truly pocket size (5.5 x 4.5 x 3 cm. / 2.16 x 1.77 x 1.18 in.) and even if, as an object, it is rather uninspiring -a simple plastic carcass to protect a mini-generator- the idea of generating electricity on demand by hand winding is still remarkable and full of potential. Hand winding products were briefly in vogue in the design world a decade ago, although they were mostly perceived as a trend rather than an alternative. I think their potential is still untapped, perhaps at a different scale. Personal energy generators could easily take care of most of our gizmos (including laptops) and household appliances on a regular basis. Hand winding could even be part of our daily, functional exercising routine -like taking the stairs instead of the elevator or bicycling to work- that would be beneficial for both our well being and the environment. Households would be equipped with large hand winding dynamos -the size of a chest of drawers- that would also be exercise machines. If we were required to manually generate part of our domestic electricity by means of a regular, 20-minute hand-cranking routine in the morning, the positive impact on public health, the reduction of public expenditure in health care costs and the environment -to name a few things- would be significant.
