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*Bring4th_Austin* · 01-19-2013, 10:26 PM

From NPR's Talk of the Nation Science Fridays:

http://www.npr.org/2013/01/18/169708753/...by-gravity

Quote:As part of a research initiative on how to harness off-grid energy for low-power electronics, a pair of U.K.-based designers created a lamp that uses gravity to generate light. Martin Riddiford, co-inventor of the GravityLight, talks about plans for the innovative project.

It's relatively cheap, works as a generator (no battery), and you are able to attach other devices peripherally. As LED and electric tech advances, this type of generator becomes more useful. Potentially very useful for developing nations.

Oceania · 01-19-2013, 10:35 PM

next laptops?

01-19-2013, 10:54 PM

Ahh, a willard wheel. Not likely.

*Bring4th_Austin* · 01-19-2013, 11:01 PM

(01-19-2013, 10:35 PM)Oceania Wrote: next laptops?

The issue is that it apparently doesn't "scale up" very well, meaning the amount of electricity they can generate probably won't get any higher. I suppose this means that the types of things it can power will be determined by how efficiently we are able to harness electricity in the future. It would be awesome to see electric devices running on hardly any electricity at all, but my uneducated guess is that we'll see some neater advances in the availability of energy before laptops are running on fractions of a watt.

Oceania · 01-20-2013, 01:43 AM

well i'll take free energy.

zenmaster · 01-20-2013, 03:38 AM

(01-20-2013, 01:43 AM)Oceania Wrote: well i'll take free energy.

Yeah, it's just you.

Ashim · 01-20-2013, 05:21 AM

(01-20-2013, 03:38 AM)zenmaster Wrote:
(01-20-2013, 01:43 AM)Oceania Wrote: well i'll take free energy.
Yeah, it's just you.

We are powerplants.

Ashim · 01-20-2013, 08:16 AM

[Image: Newton_20apple_20Gary_20Larson_small1.jpg]

Oceania · 01-20-2013, 08:21 AM

(01-20-2013, 03:38 AM)zenmaster Wrote:
(01-20-2013, 01:43 AM)Oceania Wrote: well i'll take free energy.
Yeah, it's just you.

what's just me?

Parsons · 01-20-2013, 11:37 AM

This technically isn't free energy, you have to lift up the weight. It's actually human powered energy.

Aaron · 01-21-2013, 12:10 AM

(01-20-2013, 11:37 AM)Parsons Wrote: This technically isn't free energy, you have to lift up the weight. It's actually human powered energy.

But it's a step closer to harnessing the energy from the freely flowing, infinite source that powers all entities, including planets.

*Bring4th_Austin* · 01-21-2013, 06:32 PM

(01-20-2013, 11:37 AM)Parsons Wrote: This technically isn't free energy, you have to lift up the weight. It's actually human powered energy.

It's sort of in a sense, using gravity as a "battery," creating potential with human energy and using gravity to slowly release that potential to create energy.

Ruth · 01-22-2013, 12:16 AM

This "gizmo" reminded me of the clock at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home near Charlottesville, VA. The clock doesn't produce electricity, but does operate by the pull of gravity on the clock's weights, which must descend through the floor in the foyer into the cellar below.

http://www.monticello.org/site/house-and...reat-clock

Guardian · 01-22-2013, 11:39 PM

The lamp is powered by using the potential energy of lifting a weight. It's human powered, not gravity powered.

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