If you want to exploit wind power, you’d normally need a monstrous wind turbine that would cost you thousands. Wind power is probably the most efficient of alternative energy sources for residential uses. Unfortunately, the cost of such a system along with the wind requirements precludes people from wanting to use it. However, this neat eco gadget, a mini wind turbine charger is small enough to hold in your hand or attach to a bike. It needs only 9mph of wind to start charging the internal battery, which can then be used to charge many devices, such as mobile phones, digital cameras and iPods.
The power stored in the wind charger is directly proportional to the amount of wind you have. The charger is capable of charging the internal battery with winds between 9mph and 40mph. A 20 minute charge at 19mph should give you 30 minutes play time on an iPod or 4 minutes talk time on your mobile phone. So the charger is mostly suited for emergency use. The kit comes with several phone adaptors, so you can match it to nearly all phones.
The kit to mount the wind charger to your bike is an additional accessory, and with the charger already costing £40, it might put people off. However, a neat idea, but I’d like to see it charging more devices, perhaps providing a 12V output.