harvesting energy

[Alan Eliasen]

On 10/27/2011 05:23 AM, Kristen Eisenberg wrote:
> If we're talking about kids powering their own devices, I think the
> way to go is to turn "work" into play. The merry go round/hard bar
> swing would fit in this category.
>
> So basically, let's look at activities where energy exerted is ambient
> anyway? What I mean is that the energy is being used up by the kids
> anyway, so why not tap into those. An example is to give them some
> variant of those "dance straps" meant to power cellphones before they
> go off to run and play during recess and lunch break.

    The short answer is "no".  At the current power consumption of the 
XO devices, children will be unable to power the devices for extended 
periods of time, especially with anything but dedicated, hard work at 
generators.

    Assume that a current XO device requires at least 6 W of power to 
operate it.  Do the basic physical calculations with this in mind.

    See the "foot power" thread on this list for analyses of generators, 
or see
   http://tinyurl.com/6zozbcn for estimates of human capacity,
and
   http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Battery_and_power

    The best way for anyone to contribute to the reduced power effort 
will be in software--that is, to reduce the power consumption of the 
device by clever power management.

-- 
   Alan Eliasen
   eliasen at mindspring.com
   http://futureboy.us/