- 10 ideas: zero power edition -

With my neighbourhood blacked out and my laptop battery non-existent, I dug out my Chromebook Pixel and tethered it to my mobile phone for emergency blogging measures. So now I have until the battery runs out to finish this blog post.

1. Bioluminescent Lamps Mini aquarium bulb filled with biolumniescent algae. Just feed the algae for perpetual electricity-free lighting.
2. Emergency Manual Pedaling trains, subways, streetcars can switch to manual power where everyone can start cycling to manually power the vehicle forward
3. Handcrank MicroUSB power charger Use the handcrank generator originally designed for the One Laptop Per Child program, but instead have a MicroUSB connector so it could be used to power any mobile device (minus Apple products)
4. Zero-Power Mouse Install a magnetometer on laptops. The mouse emits a magnetic field naturally. Clicking the mouse cuts the magnetic field. The magnetometer can then use this info to track mouse position and clicks.
5. Zero-Power Streetlight Wrap streetlights with reflective tape; car headlights will make the streets glow. Will only work for highways and other vehicle-only roads, since pedestrians and bikers need light too.
6. Meeting Places a waterproof sturdy plastic which details every unusual event and a corresponding meeting place (e.g. Zombie Apocalypse - Central Park; Fire - Backyard of my house). Permanent marker, cannot be erased. To make edits, you must draw up a new one.
7. Deep Cellar Trapdoor in the basement can lower one crate deep into the earth for cooling. Prevent spoilage when no freezer is available.
8. Backup Generator Exercise Bike An exercise bike hooked up to a backup generator. Every time you exercise, you are also lowering your electricity bill!
9. Wind-up Fan Stores the kinetic energy of a hand-crank and then releases it to power a fan. Advantage over a regular fan: you don't have to hold it once it's wound up.
10. Google Now/Siri/other-automated-assistant improvement automatically detects that you are in a blackout and suggests things like reading a book, playing a musical instrument or rolling out a board game