Wind-powered battery charger

Researchers in India have developed a small wind turbine for charging cell phone batteries while the user is traveling.

The device will help mobile phone users charge their phones while travelling in a bus, a car or a train. All they need to do is -- place the turbine against the wind flow. It will use wind energy to move the turbine thereby generating energy

They say it can generate 3-4 Watts, for use in an emergency, but also mention other applications such as radios.

I consider this akin to the research being done to power wireless sensors by scavenging energy from the environment (from vibrations, air currents, etc.). For mobile or wireless applications, the benefit of extending battery life, or eliminating the battery altogether, is so great that it justifies these sort of strategies. It will be interesting to see if these technologies make their way from the mobile world into grid-connected devices.

[via Engadget]