Combining eco-design and user benefits from human-powered energy systems, a win–win situation

This paper presents the use of the human body to power electronic products, two product design cases applying human-powered energy systems and the relation with eco-design. The paper illustrated how the use of an alternative energy system (i.e. human-powered energy systems) offers new viewpoints to the design engineer and brings about environmental improvements. ‘Green marketing’ experiences from Philips teach us that environmental benefits should be backed-up by additional user benefits in order to be effective in the market. Human-powered energy systems offer these possibilities.