While the idea of powering portable electronics with kinetic energy has been around for a while, a new type of energy harvesting device proposed by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison could bring the idea closer to reality.

In a paper that appeared August 23 in the journal Nature Communications, engineering researchers Tom Krupenkin and J. Ashley Taylor from the University of Madison-Wisconsin proposed a new type of kinetic energy harvesting technology which, they claim could "dramatically reduce our dependence on batteries."