Comments on: HyMini Wind Powered Device Charger Puts The Green In Awesome

By: tahrey

tahrey — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:50:08 +0000

never mind the hugely greater amount of energy you’re expending during said ride, and the extra drag you’re putting on the vehicle?
this smacks slightly of fail and fad cash-in.

the solar panel part is probably quite useful though.

however, i do wonder how long it would take to earn it’s ~£35 purchase price back, when electricity costs about £0.10 per kWh … and a phone charger uses 10 watts, MAX. 35000 hours of charging. Or 4 continuous years. 8+ if you consider the realistic amount of usable sunlight available. Maybe less if you put it in a windy AND sunny spot and charge multiple devices.

By: Peter Gillard-Moss

Peter Gillard-Moss — Sat, 24 May 2008 10:23:01 +0000

Devices like this are fantastic: for someone who commutes and has the hassle of charging their laptop, mp3 player, phone etc. on a regular basis employing my bicycle to do the job for me is much less hassle and means I never run out of power.

By: Andrew Dobrow

Andrew Dobrow — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:53:31 +0000

@Chris It’s true, this device might not do anything that saves any sort of marginal energy usage, but whatever can get people accustomed to these sort of gadgets is beneficial. Well said.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 15:28:25 +0000

I’m not so sure that these items solve nothing. They won’t lower carbon emissions by themselves. But, anything that gets people involved is a good thing. It’s a passive way of getting into the mindset of power saving on all sorts of things simply because people start to use renewable energy for something practical and personal. If we all wait for governments to get moving, we will wait too long.

Keep the faith!

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 20:02:40 +0000

Yet another “green” gadget that solves nothing.
I was psyched about getting one until I read the wind speed tolerances.
I’m afraid this is useless, which I guess is okay, since our “global warming crisis” is fraudulent.