This morning I read about the nPower PEG — a Personal Energy Generator — so I had to look into it online. PEG sounds like a decent fit in my quest to reduce electricity demand where I can. My last attempt using solar power was less than optimal, but this has potential. The PEG device captures your kinetic energy when walking or running. I do one or other, if not both, on a daily basis. Unlike other devices I’ve looked at, PEG doesn’t store energy — it simply transfers it. That means to charge a small device, you have to connect it to PEG and then do your activity. But it doesn’t take much activity to recharge. The product page indicates that a one hour walk should charge most phones to about 80% capacity. That’s actually good on two levels — not only does your phone get charged, but you gain the benefit of burning some calories with moderate exercise.

The device is 9″ by 1″, although the center section is slightly thicker. I can’t find a video of the device in use, but my guess is that you hold it by the center part while the rest of the PEG moves back and forth based on your motion. Tremont Electric, the company behind PEG says that you can also strap the unit to your arm or leg. The PEG connects to mobile devices through a USB 2.0 cable, but the company plans to sell adapter tips for devices that use non-standard connectors.

You can’t get a PEG just yet, but the company is taking names and e-mail addresses for pre-orders. The Personal Energy Generator looks to have a pre-order price of $148, so I wouldn’t consider this a cheaper alternative than paying for electricity. However, that’s not my goal here — I’m simply looking to reduce my power demands a little at time. No matter how miniscule the power savings, I’m after it.

For the past two years, I’ve really been watching my electricity consumption, both for my mobile devices and my household in general. The effort has paid off as we’re down to just over 7,000 kwh annually, down from roughly 10,500 kwh. Trying out solar phone charging and buying Smart Strip power strips have made a positive impact. But the fact remains — there isn’t a tremendous “green” focus on the mobile device market as a whole.

That’s why I glad to see a three-fold increase in the Green IT Pavilion’s floor space for green gadgets at CEATAC this year. In a weekly update at GigaOM Pro (subscription required), Pedro Hernadez shares what some of the of the future green devices and technologies will look like. Wireless charging is one hot area poised for success as evidenced by my Palm Touchstone charger and Dell’s new Latitude Z with charging pad. And while some are excited by OLED displays on the ZuneHD and upcoming Android handsets, I didn’t realize that OLED lighting isn’t that far off. Manufacturing for such a product will roll in 2011 and is expected to be $6 billion industry in under seven years. While I wait for that, I’ll keep reading on my low powered Kindle2 under the CCFL bulbs in our home. That amazing e-book reader is lasting for nearly a month on each charge and I use it daily!

It’s about time for another crazy mobile experiment. Last time was my 60-day "web-challenge" where I tried to use only a browser for my daily computing tasks. It went quite well, but indicated to me that web services still have plenty of room to mature. So what’s the new challenge? This one fits in with our household efforts to be more "green" in our care for the environment.

In 2005, we sold a gas-guzzling truck and opted for a new hybrid vehicle. In 2007, we swapped out over two-dozen incandescent bulbs with CCFLs and saw a huge drop in our electricity usage. Earlier this year, we purchased and installed a solar-powered attic fan and we’re on the verge of composting our organic food waste. Since I use mobile devices all day, I decided to take a solar-powered approach to further reduce our electricity consumption so here’s the challenge: I’m taking my handheld devices off the grid for the next 60 days. Or at least, that’s what I’m going to try.

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Good news from Boston-Power today by way of Earth2Tech: the company is producing a lithium-ion battery that will offer a much longer lifespan. How much longer? A battery using Boston-Power’s Sonata technology will last three times longer before the recharge capacity begins to degrade. This doesn’t mean that consumers will see devices run three times longer on a single charge; instead, it means that the battery can hold 100% of it’s rated capacity far longer before the eventual degradation. Put another way: after 300 charge cycles, most notebook batteries fail to fully recharge. They begin to hold less of a charge at that point and therefore you either need to buy another battery or deal with less run-time between charges. Boston-Power says that their batteries will keep 100% of the charge over 1,000 charge cycles.

HP will offer batteries using Boston-Power’s solution under the "HP Enviro Series" brand and expects to charge only $20 to $30 more for these power packs over current batteries. While we’re all looking for more run-time on the go, a solution like this can help lower overall device costs since one of these batteries will effectively last as long as three other batteries for your mobile device. Another plus for these batteries? They charge up quickly, as much as 80% in 30 minutes. That makes finding that seat near the AC adapter at Starbucks a little more palatable: you can gain a quick charge before finishing that cup of java.

If you live in the U.S., you’ve probably seen the latest Apple ad spot on television by now. The company is touting the new unibody MacBook as "green" for the environmentally conscious. I’m in that group myself with a hybrid car, a solar-powered attic fan and as a fanatic about recycling. No scrap of paper in our home is safe from the recycling bin, not even the puny little ATM and purchase reciepts I get at WaWa. We’re getting ready to start composting in the near future as well.

From my perspective then, it’s nice to see Apple’s green take on the new MacBook. That’s why I was flabbergasted to see my Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapter today packaged in a box that’s at least as big as the one my MacBook came in.

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