What You KNEED?
<1> Couldn’t help but tip my hat to INXS with the title, however awkward.
<2> Apologies for reverting to ‘web harvester’ mode, like so many other eco-sites, but this is too good to pass up.
The Mechanical Electric Knee Brace Power Generator. I’m not sure what they call it, could be in the article, but it’s going to save the planet.
Indeed. One walks and powers one’s GPS/mobile phone/portable game system/DVD player/iPod in the process. No kidding. Is that nifty, or what? Anyone have any issues with free electricity?
One small issue I can see being raised: These things are awfully complicated with lots of advanced engineering and manufacturing required to produce. In a world where these see heavy adoption rates, is it not likely that all the power used to create the device would far outweigh any power it would generate in its lifetime? What’s more, is the problem not that we need to charge the plethora of electronic devices with which we daily arm ourselves, but that we need to reduce our addiction to such nonessentials? One cannot really be concerned with climate change AND continue acquiring all the latest electronic gadgetry, am I right? Just food for thought. What do you think?
[source Discovery News article here]
apple, ipod, power
Tags: environment
I’m not sure I agree with it being unessential. Certainly I don’t want to lower the discussion into a debate of the meta argument of true essentials, but I do think essential is quite relative.
Some of us lead pretty hectic live and these devices provide us with a nice means of escape. A video game system is a nice way to relax, listen to music, surf the web, run Linux, etc. And you have to believe (especially in my case) the other form of escape comes in a bottle.
I keep my music, movies and games on a PSP. Isn’t it better to have it all in one place which is totally portable vs copying it onto tapes (which is all my car has) and CDs, DVDs, etc? With it’s mini jack I can watch a movie while I work out at the gym, I can listen to my music in my car (via a tape with a mini headphone plug), I can allow my kids to watch a movie or play a game in the car on a long trip.
I can understand your concern and your point is still valid, but I don’t think it boils down to, if a product provides an essence to our lives or not, but more a matter of moderation.
The evil isn’t necessarily the consumer, but more the people in marketing. They are true evil.
“Anybody here in marketing? Kill yourself” - Bill Hicks
Kirk -
Agreed that they’re very nice. And in terms of power consumption, they’re minimal. It’s the PRODUCTION of such devices that is the real killer/petroleum gobbler. In a looming era of Peak Oil, the question is, CAN we do without them, to ease the pain? Or will we (of course we will) refuse to reduce our consumption of the very most trivial items (these really are the very most trivial) in order to reduce economic and ecological pain?