by Mark Boyer
Ever wish you could charge your iPhone while looking like a complete weirdo? Now you can, with the AIRE mask, a wind-powered device that captures the power of respiration and converts it to electricity via small wind turbines. At best it makes the wearer look like they’re living in a chemical war zone; at worst it’ll make you look like a futuristic Hannibal Lecter. But looks aren’t everything!
We’ve seen several charging devices emerge in recent years that harness kinetic energy to power mobile devices, but this is the first we’ve come across that actually uses human respiration to power a gadget. Designer João Paulo Lammoglia won a Best of 2011 RedDot Design Award for the AIRE mask. The mask can be used while sleeping, reading or exercising, according to the description at RedDot online.
Mobile phones are small devices, but they can have a pretty significant environmental impact, creating as much as 1 metric ton of CO2 per year – so anything you can do to curb your energy use (no matter how silly or creepy it might make you look) is of course a good thing. “Besides saving energy (and contributing to environmental preservation), it also encourages the practice of physical exercise,” writes Lammoglia in the product description. “Its energy is available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.”
