I have been thinking for some time about my upcoming obligations to pay for electricity.

In… I have been thinking for some time about my upcoming obligations to pay for electricity.

In this country, electricity continues to become more expensive because electrical power generation is still tied to fossil fuels, which, as we can all tell from the gasoline pump, are continually becoming pricier.

I have the unfortunate setback of soon having to pay my own electrical bill while also being a computer engineer and needing to run power-hungry desktop computers and display devices to complete my schoolwork.

This is not to mention the fact that I have a healthy obsession with everything electronic and try my hardest to have as many blinking lights in my room on as possible.

On any given day, I will be running my desktop computer while also charging my laptop computer so I can finish a homework assignment on the run.

If I do this day after day, combined with the eventual costs of powering my refrigerator, charging my cellular phone, powering my stereo system and keeping any lighting devices I may require working properly, my electric bill will become quite expensive.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there were some technology that could help me make some power without spending money on the power companies?

Perhaps I should charge my laptop while I’m walking in the sun or use the heat I generate when I walk to campus in the cold Pittsburgh weather.

TG Daily, an online technology periodical, recently reported on a new breakthrough in body heat power generation that could make charging small electronic devices easier and more efficient for those who either live in hot climates or for those who try, despite the elements, to keep their bodies at a healthy 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

With the new, “rough” silicon nano-wires, electronic devices like watches, laptops and cellular phones could be charged by simply holding them close to a head source.

For most of us on a daily basis, that heat source is our own bodies as we walk in the sun or clutch our heavy coats attempting to prevent Pittsburgh from getting to us.

TG Daily cites that although this technology is not brand new, it is being rejuvenated by the new ability to produce “rough” nano-wires. These new nano-wires are much more efficient in producing electricity from heat.

Alternative power sources for laptops are becoming even more prevalent as technologies are becoming more complicated and thus hungrier for power.

Laptops with brighter displays require bigger batteries – the better the processor, the more power and charge a laptop requires for prolonged function.

Clever companies have begun to introduce laptop bags with solar cells that charge the laptop as you are sitting waiting for a bus or walking from your car to work in the morning.

If your laptop is sitting in your office and you are lucky enough to have an office with a sun-facing window, you can simply place your laptop bag in the sun and watch it slowly charge.

The company Voltaic creates a rather stylish bag for the casual computer user that fits the very functionality of inexpensive electrical generation.

Perhaps the idea of the One Laptop per Child project will catch on with larger laptops. When you want your laptop charged and are sitting in your office or classroom bored, don’t spin your pencil around on your desk. Turn a hand crank and charge your batteries.

A universal attachment to such a device would allow you to charge any small electronic device that works on DC power.

Unfortunately, there are still no affordable ways to power large home appliances or your desktop computer from solar or heat technology.

The current “green” power-generation techniques for the average consumer are limited to smaller electronic devices.

Still, not ever having to charge your laptop on the power grid or plug your cell phone into a wall jack will ultimately lead to a nice discount on the power bill.