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While governments exploring various alternative energies, there’s one supply that relies on us as individuals: human-power. From cranking and shaking to pedaling, there are numerous gadgets on the market to help you keep fit and cut your energy bills while powering your home and camp with carbon-free energy. Here are a few of the most popular and useful.

Camping and Emergency Light
The most well-known human-powered gadget is probably the hand-cranked flashlight. A trusted, affordable version is Garrity’s Power Lite 3 LED Crank Light, available from $9.85. Turning the handle for just one minute charges its NiMH batteries to power super-bright LED bulbs for up to an hour.

Some flashlights even scare off mosquitoes. Ideal for camping with its floodlight shape, I-nique’s E-volve LED Wind-Up Camping Lantern has a built-in 18-20kHz ultrasonic mosquito repeller. One minute of cranking powers its 25 ultra-bright LEDs for 20 minutes. Fully charged on the low setting, the lantern will shine for 12 hours straight, all for as little as $33.99.

Other flashlights are powered by shaking. RilandUSA’s $6.95 Shake Light, if agitated for 15-30 seconds, will provide up to five minutes of continuous LED light. Besides being waterproof, it floats and is impact resistant.

Radios, MP3s and Cell Phones
A multitude of self-powered lighting devices provide additional services, such as AccuPower’s long-range Emergency Crank Radio, which doubles as a flashlight, clock, emergency siren, timer and phone charger, all for $14.95.

A larger all-in-one product is the Eton American Red Cross FR150 Microlink radio, flashlight and cellphone charger, available from $30.00. This hand-cranked radio can be tuned to AM, FM and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) weather bands.

While many hand-cranked flashlights provide phone charging as an add-on feature, it is the SideWinder’s sole purpose. Weighing just 2.5 ounces, the charger is marketed as the world’s smallest, lightest and most portable phone charger, and is available from $27.95. Cranking the charger for two minutes provides over six minutes of talk time. It comes with a Nokia main cable and four adapter tips to fit devices by Audiovox, Kyocera, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and Samsung.

For those who can’t survive in the wild without music, the rainproof PowerPlus Verio Dynamo MP3 player (also a flashlight and phone charger) provides 15-20 minutes of music for each minute’s cranking, up to four hours when fully charged. Available from £34.22 ($54), the Verio has a 1GB Samsung flash memory.

Remote Controls and Shredders
Try cranking any hand-powered gadget while watching TV, and you’ll probably clock up a large amount of power without noticing it, but EZ Power’s Wind-Up Remote Control needs only 30 turns of its jog shuttle for a week-long charge. For £14.99 ($24), you can operate up to six different devices from your chair, saving your own energy for the pedal-powered energy sources yet to come.

Another hand-cranked item is Think Tank’s Paper Shredder, which shreds paper into 3mm strips with every turn, making it ideal for guilt-free disposal of confidential documents in both office and home, for only $3.99. Just make sure to recycle the paper shreds.

Power Generators
The main difference between pedal-powered devices is whether they have pedals or a whole bicycle attached to them; the latter are often called bike-powered. In the case of PowerPlus’s Gazelle, the pedals are attached directly to a power generator, which means you need to be sitting on a chair while you peddle. The AC/DC power bank, costing £79.95 ($127), can then be attached to household appliance you wish to power.

Bike-powered generators can be more expensive, but enable you to workout in the same way as a normal exercise cycle. Most of them consist of a regular bicycle secured to the spot by a bike stand that feeds kinetic energy from the back wheel to a generator when you pedal. One such example is the Assembled Pedal-A-Watt, costing $399.

As the main component of bike-powered devices is the bike, it is possible to purchase the parts online and construct the rest of the device around a bike you already own. The Human-Powered Home: Choosing Muscles Over Motors, by Tamare Dean, $22.76, is a useful reference in this regard and a great reference for all kinds of pedal-powered appliances.

While most manual energy sources involve a generator, which stores energy to power an attached electrical device at a later date, some are directly attached to appliances and power them on the fly. Fender Blender’s Universale, their most affordable bike blender at $249, consists of a blender attached to a universal rear rack, into which a bike can be slotted.

Helping the Developing World
While we might buy or build human-powered conveniences to replace the electric-powered ones we already own, unreliable or non-existent electricity supplies in developing countries have discouraged owners from purchasing such devices, even if they could afford them. Now the concept of human-power is bringing many electrical appliances to developing countries for the first time.

Receiving a pedal-powered washing machine from Maya Pedal, for example, might be the first washing machine a third-world family has ever seen or owned. Other pedal-powered machines from the non-governmental organization in Chimaltenango, Guatemala, include water pumps and metal sharpeners, which are sold or donated to groups in the local community.

Another human-powered initiative is the non-profit, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), which distributes MIT-designed XO laptops to children throughout the developing world. The laptop can be powered by a hand crank, foot pedal, lawnmower-type pull cord or solar panel—and it requires only a tenth of the power of a typical laptop.

So how can we help distribute human-powered devices throughout the developing world? By donating or fundraising for human-powered initiatives like those above, or volunteering to get involved directly. Maya Pedal is constantly searching for volunteers to help repair and build bike-powered devices, and teach the locals how to do the same, while OLPC needs translators, software developers and volunteers to work in the countries of distribution. Donating an XO laptop through Amazon for $199 is also a manageable target for a fundraising event.

A Kid-powered Future
Companies with an interest in sustainability, and the resources to invest in new inventions, are beginning to explore additional human power possibilities. Sony’s ‘odo’ prototypes, for example, are all based on tapping into the kinetic energy of children as they play. Some interesting examples of their work include the Crank ‘N Capture digital video camera, Spin ‘N Snap digital camera, Push Power Play photo and video viewer, and Pull ‘N Play stereo headphones.

The potential types and uses of human power are endless. And now that we realize Earth’s energy resources are finite, they are a great, sustainable addition to humankind’s alternative energy repertoire. It’s time to get used to the idea that, for as long as humans are around, human power is here to stay. Save money, your health and the environment by self-powering as much of your own life as possible—and encourage others to do the same. Power to the people

Additional resources:
Pedal-Powered Appliances for Home, Business and Leisure
Human-Powered Gyms: One Workout at a Time

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