Firewinder is a spinning wind-powered light source

Tom Lawton designed this awesome thing that converts just a little breeze into a lot of light. It doesn't get bright enough to be useful for work, but it will provide a little light, and act as a beacon of sorts.

It will work with wind speeds as low as 3 miles per hour, all the way up to 40mph. The optimum speed is 5-7 mph though.

The picture isn't all that telling of what this thing looks like, but if you remember the things one of your elders probably had hanging on their porch or patio, the ones that were tall and all they did were spin in the wind, its like that, but with LEDs attached. There isn't a big fan shaped wind propeller powering this thing like you might think, it really is far simpler that that. It should be on sale some time before Christmas for about 85 pounds or somewhere around $170.

Light my Firewinder – A Wind Powered Lantern [via treehugger]