Two type of free energy come from “solar powered” and “wind-up powered” products and these days there are plenty to choose from.
For this post I am going to look very briefly at some of the options available for wind-up products, or products that were once described as clockwork.
The oldest and most popular wind up product is of course the time piece which comes in many guises from wrist watches to grandfather clocks. But with modern and enhanced wind up units, far more energy demanding products can now be run “energy free” using this power source.
The first big wind-up product was the radio and today wind-up radios include DAB radios as well as regular AM and FM units.
Torches, flashlights and lanterns are another highly suited product for wind-up technology.
These items can sit unused for many months allowing standard batteries to run down without use, but wind up technology means that they can be available and charged at very short notice and no cost.
They are also light weight compared with their battery counterparts.
Further wind-up products include chargers that can regenerate rechargeable batteries, or batteries for items like mobile phones, usb devices and mp3 and 4 players.
An alternative to windup power is kinetic power where the product, e.g. a torch, is shaken to generate power in a similar way to the winding mechanism. In general, these products are harder work and require more human energy to charge them.
