Over the years I have become accustomed to having more than keys on my keychain. The main addition is my USB memory stick that has grown smaller in size but greater in capacity. Here is another addition that would fit nicely on my chain.

The Stingray is a mini-flashlight that has two of those highly energy efficient LED`s mounted on the front to bring that extra bit of light. Weighing just 78 grams and measuring a tiny 6.6cm. x 3.8cm. x 1.4cm you`d hardly notice it was there until you needed it.

Running on internal rechargeable batteries which when fully charged will give you continuous light for 2 and 1/2 hours. For recharging the photovoltaic solar panel will need 5 hours of sunlight for every hour of illumination. Five hours may seem a long time and it could be much less with a massive and more expensive solar cell. But this torch is about being tiny and unobtrusive. Dangling this torch on your belt unnoticed during the day should keep it charged and ready for use

This should last a lifetime with the LED technology here you would get light for 50,000 hours before failure.

Like my USB memory stick, I expect the Solar Powered Mini-flashlights that are on my keychain to become much more advanced and perhaps they will become one single unit. Well we know that will happen and we can count the time in months and not in years.

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The simple answer here is to utilize batteries to store the energy for use later. Improve the efficiency by using Light Emitting Diodes (LED) and in turn that could reduce the time needed to charge or the weight of the torch can be reduced by using batteries of less capacity, and weight.

The combination of those two factors have already made it in to remote energy efficient lighting modules that may be of use as semi-fixed features in your garden.

For flashlights, or torches depending on where you live, the technology now makes it convenient  to be able to carry a powerful lightweight torch around with you that gives off more than just a glow.

Handbag or pocket, glove compartment or sports bag, there are hundreds of uses that up until now we were restricted by the heavy weight of batteries. Ten or fifteen years ago mobile phones were not as common but now everybody has one. The same could apply to personal lighting in a few years time.

Windup, no jokes here. This is not new either, even radios can be windup and for a long time clockwork devices were seen as archaic, not any more. While the ideas of solar, wind and other renewable energies are attractive, they do now always perform 100% of the time. Combining them together and we can practically always have a clean energy source. The same applies to self powering devices, here the solar may not always keep your torch batteries charged and our backup energy source is clockwork. Using lightweight windup technology does not add much bulk or weight to your flashlight but can provide a quick energy boost when needed.

Energy efficient and self powering decides are becoming more popular and while each one has a very small carbon saving footprint, they all add up to over all quite a lot of CO2 saved. The cleaner air is a bonus, but the main advantage is having a low cost, lightweight and practical light source for personal use.

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