This is what the vehicles are at the recently held Human Powered Vehicle Challenge.

This event was held at the Ames Research Center of NASA in California. And during this event, there were teams of engineering students from different challenges who showed up with their creations and ready to let their muscles do the job of giving power. There were 26 teams in all who joined up.

All those vehicles looked really weird with their wheels and all. Of course, it does not matter how good the vehicles looked as long as they are able to race up and take on the challenge. After all, waiting for the top racer is $500.

Experts and engineers who were present at the said weird racing event were amazed by the creativity of all the students who competed. The vehicles were all designed to go at amazing speeds and also had been thought of so carefully so much so that safety of the riders were not compromised.

[Via Treehugger]
[Image from Wired]

Post from: Blisstree

Traveling Using Human Muscle Power

Just recently, Sydney said no to global warming through a black out. And because of this, you would never have realized that you were in Sydney. The growing concern about global warming has reached heights so much so that large cities like Sydney are working out ways so as to get everyone involved and aware.

For an hour, all of Sydney was in darkness and its mayor, Clover Moore, did also say that all of the lights that were not that important were to be shut off. He also did say that this was Sydney’s way of “asking people to think about what action they can take to fight global warming.”

The black out started at 7:30 pm and lasted for about an hour.

Cate Blanchett, an Oscar winner, was in Sydney that time and she was there to witness the blackout. She mentioned, “It’s an hour of active, thoughtful darkness, a celebration of our awakening to climate change action.”

[Via Yahoo! News]

[Image from catastrophic end]

Post from: Blisstree

Black Out IS Sydney’s Way To Differ Global Warming

He may not be able to shout out loud but he has already gained much fame in his area around the San Francisco Bay. He may be called weird but his tactic sure did make people listen up to his advocacy.

His time for silence has already passed and now he is letting people learn about what he strongly believes in and he now shares his thoughts and ideas through speeches and messages. “I think it’s time for me to use my voice,” he explains.

He believes that his tactic sure did work because in the Bay Area, the noise could be overpowering but “because I didn’t speak, everyone paid attention” expresses Francis. But now, because he has decided to speak up again, he believes that he would well be able to express his advocacy just the same as he did during the silent times that the lived through.

[Via Yahoo! News]

Post from: Blisstree

Environment Advocate Makes Everybody Listen Through Silence

When our mobile phone’s juice runs out, we hurriedly rush to find our charger and make sure that we get the juices back to our trusty gadget. But with this new mobile phone charger from Millet, you sure would be quite happy knowing that you would not be using electricity. All you need is your own human power.

This mobile phone charger just needs a little winding up and it is created by Peter Storm. And since it is a wind-up gadget, you would most certainly be sure that it would be contributing to the pollution and the damage of our mother earth.

Another important detail about this wind-up mobile phone charger is that it is made from organic materials as well as recycled stuff. So everything about this charger is simply very earth friendly.

I believe you also can get a wind-up torch, solar radio and a lantern with this mobile phone charger. Now where else would you find something like this?

[Via Tech Digest]

Post from: Blisstree

Millet Mobile Phone Charger: No Need For Electricity

This one is:

Yes, it is a generator that gets its power from humans. All you need to do is flex up your muscles. Mount up the gadget-slash-device and time to speed up.

This generator has been proven to actually produce just enough electricity to give power to your home. In fact, the creator of this human powered generator says that he does mount this generator every morning so as to make use of his electronic appliances.

The power generated from this one can reach up to 110v of AC which he can use for various things like LED lights to his computer to other necessary stuff. And he does not need to spend much on electricity.

Oh, did you also want to lose weight? This human powered generator would also come in handy to help you burn those fats away. No need to buy those expensive machines.

[Via David Butcher]

[Image from Free Energy News]

Post from: Blisstree

The Real Human Power Deal

I got an email from one of my readers Dave Askins and he showed me his DIY project. He built this human powered laundry spinner. According to him “it removed the wringing step from doing my laundry by hand “.

He got some inspiration from a salad spinner.

Examining the construction of the salad spinner, I realized I needed a giant perforated metal tub that I could spin inside a solid tub so that the water forced out of the laundry through centrepital force would collect on the inner wall of the solid tub, then drain out the bottom, instead of flying all around the room.

Instead of building a similar spinner from the ground up, he just thought of finding a broken washing machine and just use the existing spinner and modify it to suit his needs. He put an ad on CraigsList and within hours, he got an offer for a free broken machine if he would just haul it away. Now that’s neat!
He did document his project in his website at homelessdave.com.

With this, you get a good workout and you get to spin dry your clothes at the same time. Nice work Dave!

Post from: Blisstree

Human Powered Laundry Spinner

Food coloring signified pollutants in the water. Using only human mechanical power, students had to bring the water to a boil, then condense the steam into purified water. The clean water would be colorless, proving the device worked.

These mechanical engineering students designed clever ways on achieving this result. One team actually used a stationary bicycle to power a motor, which provided electricity to a heating coil taken from a coffee maker. This heat brings water to a boil at 212 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the water starts to evaporate, the steam goes into a copper coil which serves as the condenser. Condensation occurs and the resulting purified liquid is deposited into a collection basin.

This project was inspired by the lack of drinking water in New Orleans due to Hurican Katrina.

[via gazettetimes.com ]

Post from: Blisstree

Human Powered Water Purifier

So how does one give a mobile phone power and juice without having to use new batteries or using up electricity?

Well, there is a mobile phone charger in the market that actually makes use of the power of a human. It is a wind-up device so you can just wind the thing up and your mobile phone gets the power it needs. This just means that you can give your mobile phone power even if you are away from your home or office.

How does the wind up mobile phone charger work? Well, remember how your convential mobile phone chargers work? This one is just like that. You connect the wind up charger to your almost dead mobile phone. Then you start winding up the handle.

If you are thinking that perhaps your phone may not be compatible with the wind up mobile phone charger, need not worry. There are adaptors that are included when you purhcase the charger so you can use it for various phones like Nokia, Motorola, Siemens, and Ericsson.

[Via Ecozone]
[Image from Lake & Air Pilot Shop]

Post from: Blisstree

Power Your Mobile Phone Without Batteries/Electricity

Toss this for about 10-12 times and this will get enough charge so you can listen to your favorite music for about an hour. This was the winning entry for the Pop-Sci Core 77 Design challenge.

This new concept has now become feasible due to advances and convergence of many key technologies. MP3 replaces the CD, MD and cassette as the musical medium of choice, not only because it is infinitely re-writeable, but also because it is so much smaller. The solid-state storage provides a solid skip-free environment from which the music can play in a shock-filled environment that is the everyday world of the yo-yo. High energy density, custom shape-moulded Lithium-Ion batteries allow battery backup and sustained play-life in such a small package. Finally, wireless technologies allow low-power, high-definition music transfer from the yo-yo to the headphones.

Now that’s a clever design.  Its quite similar to “crank-it-up” powered toys and gadgets but this will be much fun.  But I wouldn’t dare do “walking the dog” or “loop-the-loops” with this one.

Post from: Blisstree

Yoyo powered MP3 Player

This thing rocks! I love push reel mowers, but when you’ve got over half an acre of lawn like I do, they become a bit tedious. Most of my neighbours may have big fancy gas-powered rider mowers, but I’d prefer one of these any day.

Unfortunately, I don’t know any welders. I wonder if I could make one with duct tape?

Photo is from the BikeMag.com forums via Hugg.

Post from: Blisstree

Human-Powered Rider Mower