Welcome to the Matrix:Humans as batteries.

[classical_hero]

This is a pretty cool invention that will surely help millions of people and it will be economical to run, since all it requires is for you to hold it and your body heat runs the torch. Surprisingly the invention only got 2nd prize in a local science fair.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/this-could-be-big-abc-news/teen-invents-flashlight-could-change-world-182121097.html

 

[Kyriakos]

Good for her

Nice idea too, to have a source of light (flashlight) only need the small rise in temperature which is generated by someone surrounding that object with their fingers.
Although obviously it would not work in the same way in cold weather. Still a very good (and simple, according to the article and her father) invention. Hopefully it can be put to use, but judging from the greed of the companies i doubt it will see the finger-heated light of day.

 

[warpus]

There is a lot of untapped energy out there we could be turning into electricity.

Why not strap battery chargers to people who run marathons for example? It might slow them down a bit, but with future technology the contraption can surely be small enough to not really bug them. People who run marathons seem to be into causes, they probably wouldn't mind. Or maybe it could beam energy directly to a satellite overhead and then back down to a centralized storage centre?

And have you noticed how many birds there are? If each and every one was equipped with some sort of a battery that charged during flight, we could use wildlife for our energy needs. Need to recharge your mp3 player? Put out your left hand and wait for an energy falcon to arrive. The future can be amazing, but we have to be willing to put in the hard work required to make it happen.

 

[Kyriakos]

I haven't read almost anything about Tesla, but it is often claimed that he already had made breakthroughs which would allow for very cheap electricity, and they are not being used due to the usual corporate oligarchy that prefers to just make more money.

 

[LamaGT]

I'm not really sure how bright such a flashlight would be, but in any case there's a very specific reason why the industrial revolution happened: we learned to harness an amount of energy simply incomparable to what our bodies could produce.

 

[Farm Boy]

The flashlight is an awesome innovation. Since it generates power off of temperature differentials, it starts not working very well when the air temperature rises above 50 Fahrenheit. It's the sort of innovation we need more of though! Provided of course the flashlight itself isn't massively toxic in and of itself or during production/end of life . You know, like the enormous batteries in electric cars.

 

[Borachio]

There is a lot of untapped energy out there we could be turning into electricity.

Why not strap battery chargers to people who run marathons for example? It might slow them down a bit, but with future technology the contraption can surely be small enough to not really bug them. People who run marathons seem to be into causes, they probably wouldn't mind. Or maybe it could beam energy directly to a satellite overhead and then back down to a centralized storage centre?

And have you noticed how many birds there are? If each and every one was equipped with some sort of a battery that charged during flight, we could use wildlife for our energy needs. Need to recharge your mp3 player? Put out your left hand and wait for an energy falcon to arrive. The future can be amazing, but we have to be willing to put in the hard work required to make it happen.

There certainly is a lot of untapped energy in the environment. The idea of harnessing that produced by people on treadmills in gyms occurred to me some time ago. Unfortunately, I believe the amount of energy isn't really significant. It could easily be used for charging a mobile phone or maybe even some kind of minimal ambient lighting, but little more.

The major power source (surprise, surprise), of course, is the sun.

According to this, there's 12.2 trillion watt hours/year reaching a square mile from the sun.

While total energy consumption by humans for a year is in the region of 150,000 trillion watt hours/year.

So, that's (hang on a minute while I completely cock this calculation up) the energy falling on ~15,000 square miles?

Given that the Sahara desert (a prime source of solar energy) has an area in excess of 3 million square miles, I really don't see that the Earth is energy-deprived.

And. AND. Current energy use is incredibly inefficient. Look at the amount of energy wasted in needless commuting.

And modern building methods can reduce the energy needs of a domestic building by 90%. Though the thing costs three times as much to build.

(Or some other totally made up figures.)

As for human beings being tapped for an energy source, forum decorum forbids me from saying anything more.

 

[filli_noctus]

The flashlight is an awesome innovation. Since it generates power off of temperature differentials, it starts not working very well when the air temperature rises above 50 Fahrenheit. It's the sort of innovation we need more of though! Provided of course the flashlight itself isn't massively toxic in and of itself or during production/end of life . You know, like the enormous batteries in electric cars.

Actually assuming the documentation is accurate the maximum temperature would be around 28 Celsius (assuming average skin temperature of 33C), with maximum optimal temperature of 23C. The more interesting question that I haven't been able to find an answer to is how quickly it takes the interior to warm to the point that it can no longer generate sufficient voltage.

 

[classical_hero]

I'm not really sure how bright such a flashlight would be, but in any case there's a very specific reason why the industrial revolution happened: we learned to harness an amount of energy simply incomparable to what our bodies could produce.

Not every country has reliable electricity and some can't afford to buy batteries for a flashlight, so something like this is a great invention. Of course it needs some tweaking so that it works better and in greater ranger of environments.

 

[Farm Boy]

Actually assuming the documentation is accurate the maximum temperature would be around 28 Celsius (assuming average skin temperature of 33C), with maximum optimal temperature of 23C. The more interesting question that I haven't been able to find an answer to is how quickly it takes the interior to warm to the point that it can no longer generate sufficient voltage.

Perhaps the article I read was presupposing it being cold enough for the thing to be useful for continual use?

 

[Borachio]

These wind-up torches work well enough, I think.

I can see they're not suitable for people without the strength or mobility to crank the handle. But isn't that quite a small subset?

 

[Farm Boy]

Get a little age and use on those things and they only really work while you are actively cranking them and for ~5-10 seconds after you stop.

 

[Borachio]

Oh right? I have a number of them. (Acquired for no particular reason.) I've certainly not used them for anything other than entertainment.

 

[Farm Boy]

I hope yours work better than the couple my parents have had.

For whatever reason people seem to have an infatuation for gifting me flashlights for holidays/birthdays, so I've got about a dozen of the chemical variety. Maybe I'm just spoiled by those LED ones they make these days.

 

[Borachio]

I find the LED head torch I've got is magic for rooting around in the loft.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Although obviously it would not work in the same way in cold weather.

It would likely work better because thermodynamics......

The temperature differential itself is the power source (similar to how the temperature differential is vital to the efficiency of a power plant, the bigger the better) and the cold air would provide a bigger gradient compared to the part held by the warm hand - assuming your hand itself doesn't freeze, which is an entirely different issue.

 

[Cutlass]

I, for one, can think of many people who would serve humanity better if they were reduced to batteries....

 

[Kyriakos]

I, for one, can think of many people who would serve humanity better if they were reduced to batteries....

Many currently are batteries, just metaphorically for the time being.
In Soviet US, Batteries need Phones.

 

[amadeus]

I had one you would shake to charge up the battery. Got it at the dollar store.