For centuries, the original "mass-market" computer, the mechanical time-keeping clock, was typically powered by slowly releasing the energy stored in a mass by displacing it by hand against the force of gravity. Now this storage method is being explored by Deciwatt as a SMALL-SCALE means of generating electricity. Please see http://deciwatt.org/ and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ovoBKuX5II
Our sincere thanks go to Science Friday, for bringing our attention to this effort; too bad their story lead-in suggests that their reporter never passed high-school physics, or even sadder yet, attended an American high-school which passed her in physics. Read and hear their story at http://web.archive.org/web/20150905071256/http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/01/18/2013/inventors-design-lamp-powered-entirely-by-gravity.html
- Docdtv 17:43, 31 January 2013 (PST)
