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This good-looking, smart and environmentally friendly pull-cord generator (PCG) will be available in the US starting in summer 2008! The yoyo look-alike allows you to generate electricity by pulling its cord. Hence the name.
It was invented by the whizz-kids at Potenco, a company founded by MIT graduates and headquartered in Alameda, CA. So far, their primary focus has been to bring electricity to developing nations with patchy power grids. That’s why Potenco forged ties to Uganda and Bangladesh, where the PCG will serve as an energy source for electric lights and cellphones. It also powers the XO Laptops of the One Laptop per Child Project.
Now the PCG is going to hit the American market! “We hope to make it available in the US next summer,” Potenco’s CEO Colin Bulthaup told Ecomorons. It will also go on sale in Europe, but the time frame is less definite. The human-powered generator will come with a USB port for charging devices. Projected cost: $50 to $100.
So what can this gadget do? The PCG is able to charge batteries of small gadgets like cell phones, cameras and even ultra portable laptops like the Eee PC. One minute of pulling generates about 20 minutes of talk time on a cell phone, and three hours of play time on an iPod shuffle. It is not suited to provide juice for ordinary laptops, though. “They are very power hungry,” Bulthaup said. “You might be pulling for one minute and it would only give you energy for two minutes of laptop use.”
What about powering my fridge? Not a good candidate, either. Those large energy-gobbling appliances are too greedy to be human-powered at the moment.
Why does Potenco make us wait till summer?
“We are now doing a large market research study,” Bulthaup said, “and the results will be known in spring 2008.” The study will determine what features exactly the PCG is going to come with, i.e. what it will be able to connect to. Before spring, these details remain a secret.
Well, almost. Colin Bulthaup already gave us some idea about the markets his company is most likely to target: “camping”, “emergency preparedness” and “the gadget geek traveler market”.
Sounds real nice. We are waiting.

PS: For updates about the arrival of the PCG, visit this website or subscribe to the Potenco newsletter.

(photo: Potenco)