Develop cheap source of personal electricity production for charging mobile phones

Communication by mobile phone has brought about numerous social, economical, health and security benefits for many rural communities living in the third world. However, the uptake poses the major problem of charging them. While mobile phones are readily available in developing countries, rather paradoxically, access to electricity can be inconsistent and users don't always have the power they need to charge their phones. In many rural areas and third world communities electricity can be sparse and not readily available. And, when it is available, communities often vie for it against other, arguably more important, uses. In some cases, where temporary vaccine clinics have been set up with solar powered roofs to keep the vaccines cold, electricity generated for freezers has instead been used by locals to charge mobile phones, such is the demand. The challenge The challenge this month is to therefore come up with a cheap and accessible source of electricity. Now, while many of you might initially think of a diesel generator, the ideal solution to the problem should be clean and non-polluting. We are looking for personal power generation that is affordable, so any large scale developments should also not be considered. The idea is to have a generator that is able to harness all the various types of natural energy surrounding whatever community it is. If it is close to a river or stream, then it should be able to use that flow of water to generate electricity. Alternatively, it should just as easily be able to harness the wind or sun as well as mechanical power such as bicycles, or even straight forward muscle power. Whatever is available should be able to be turned in to useful electricity that can charge a normal mobile phone. The solution we have in mind is a small device that is able to take advantage and create energy from numerous natural and clean sources, is low cost and relies on well known technologies. The generator itself is no bigger than a bottle of water, but it also relies on numerous attachments to capture the individual sources of power. Our solution will be in the February issue of Eureka. In the meantime, see if you can create something better. Any ideas that you would like to share with us? Feel free to send an email to the editor at tfryer@findlay.co.uk or leave us a comment in the box below. -Solution- Solution to the January 2015 Coffee Time Challenge The solution to this month's challenge to develop a personal electricity generator for mobile phones (and other electrical goods) that is able to harness all types of natural sources of energy comes from US start-up HydroBee. The patent-pending HydroBee is no bigger than a bottle of water, and acts as a USB battery pack that can be charged using many types of free natural energy sources. It comes with a number of accessories that allow it to energy including water (from a tap, stream, river, or tides), bicycles and carts, hand-cranks, belt drive pulleys, solar panels and thermal energy such as heat from a fire. The energy is converted internally and stored in a battery, so it can be left all day to charge in a river or in the sun, and just transferred to a mobile phone when it is needed. This avoids the problem of trickle charging, and having to leave a mobile phone plugged in all day waiting for it to charge. The device also has a build in LED light should the user want illumination, instead of a charged phone. Other applications for the HydroBee include leisure and camping, a power source for festival goers, and anywhere that does not have a permanent source of electricity but is able to exploit some form of natural energy.