Gadgets and gizmos

It sometimes seems a little odd that in a country far more famed for its gales than for its bright sunshine we would rely more on generating energy through solar power than through wind turbines. When it comes to alternative home energy, though, solar chargers and solar powered devices are the craze. Granted, wind powered chargers and devices do have some glaringly obvious difficulties but the possibility exists.

The Energy Ball from Dutch company Home Energy International could be the start of things to come (ok, maybe we’re getting a bit carried away). While you might look a bit of a tool carrying round a phone charger that uses one of these use as its alternative source of energy you could certainly erect one in the majority of back gardens.

It’s that effective that it can be used to harness the wind’s power even when it drops to less than 4.5mph (that’s probably a good 360 days of the year generating energy then) and the design that looks like a cross between an aeroplane and an egg whisk is certainly an improvement on the extremely industrial looking turbines that we normally see.