Wind power has historically played a big part in US culture. During the 1920s and 1930s, farms throughout the Midwest took advantage of wind power to generate electricity for their lights and electric motors. When our government started actively subsidizing the construction of fossil fuel based power plants and the associated utility lines, wind power fell into decline. Similar to energy efficiency, during the energy crisis in the 1970s, things that were old became new again. Now with growing environmental concerns being expressed globally many people are once reexamining wind power.
Wind Energy Basics
One form of energy, wind (a form of solar energy), is converted to another form of energy, electricity, using a wind turbine. As the turbine spins, electricity is generated. Similar to solar power, wind power is protected from inflation. How? Any power you generate using your own wind turbine goes against the current utility pricing. Wind power can effectively shield you from rising electricity costs.
Wind Energy in the Palm of My Hand?
As consumers show renewed interest in renewable energy sources like wind, product manufacturers are already rushing to respond. One of the most interesting consumer wind technologies is both amazingly inexpensive and amazingly small. How small? You can hold this particular wind turbine in your hand – while it’s generating electricity.
The HYmini
A product of MINIWIZ Sustainable Energy Dev. LTD, the HYmini is a revolutionary new green product. While I’ve frequently seen many small consumer versions of solar technologies, specifically designed to power your cell phone, PDAs and MP3 players, this is the first handheld wind turbine I’ve encountered.
The HYmini combines a small wind turbine designed to generate power in wind speeds between 9-30 miles per hour with an internal 1200mAh lithium ion polymer battery. The HYmini maxs out it’s ability to convert wind into electricity at 40 miles per hour. The battery is good for about 500 complete charge cycles. The HYmini is literally a green power station that you can hold in the palm of your hand.
The inventors of the HYmini pushed the envelope and added a few more impressive green features. To maximize the flexibility of their new device, they allowed for the HYmini battery to be externally recharged. That means in a pinch you can plug your HYmini into any USB port or conventional 100-240V wall plug and instantly start recharging.
miniSOLAR
If plugging your HYmini into your electrical outlet isn’t green enough for you then consider the miniSOLAR option. miniSOLAR is an inexpensive solar panel designed to work with the HYmini. Thanks to HYmini’s ability to externally recharge, you can easily add up to four miniSOLAR panels to recharge your HYmini using solar energy. Each miniSOLAR panel can add up to 140mA at 5V of recharging power. Staying with the eco-friendly theme, the MINIWIZ team houses each miniSOLAR panel in a recycled card board paper package.
HYmini Applications
HYmini is perfect for both runners and cyclists and to encourage it’s use in both those markets the MINIWIZ team offers both a bicycle mount and an armband. If the wind is a little slow on a particular day then why not add some human energy to the mix. The HYmini will literally be generating electricity while you are burning through calories.
Ignoring the wind turbine for a moment, the HYmini, is also the perfect rechargeable backup battery pack for all your mobile electronics. This expands possible uses for the HYmini exponentially.
Talk To Me About Power
Thanks to some useful testing completed by MINIWIZ we have some hard facts regarding power generation for the HYmini. According to MINIWIZ using the HYmini wind turbine or the miniSOLAR panels you can capture enough energy in 20 minutes to power:
A MP3 Player for 40 minutes A PDA for 40 minutes An iPod for 30 minutes A Cell Phone for 4 minutes A Digital Camera for 20 pictures
To capture that much wind energy you will however need constant 19 mile per hour wind speeds. The solar panels will need direct sunlight as well. You can learn more about the HYmini and the miniSOLAR panels at the following website:
http://www.hymini.com/
As technology advances, you can expect to see many more unique green technologies such as the HYmini. Wind power is a lost part of our culture, a part we have recently started to reconnect with and the HYmini offers consumers an inexpensive way to implement wind power in their lives today. Using devices like the HYmini can reduce disposable battery usage and waste. When batteries are improperly disposed of and end up in landfills or incinerators, they inevitably leak into our environment and eventually end up in our food chain. Take part in the new wind power revolution and reduce your battery usage, the environment will thank you for both.