DLSU innovation uses gravity to generate energy

A sustainability group from De La Salle University-Laguna Campus has figured out a way to generate electricity using gravity.

According to a 24 Oras ''Game Changer'' report on Tuesday, the AnimoLabs Fab Lab and Sustainability Hub-Laguna created a gravity storage device which uses the principle of gravity to gather and convert energy into electricity.

“Gravity storage, from the word gravity, ginagamit natin yung effect ng gravity para i-pull down yung weight natin. Kung ang weight mo is heavy enough and high enough siya, it can actually store energy,” shared developer Isidro Marfori III.

(Gravity storage, from the word gravity, uses the effect of gravity to pull down the weight. If your weight is heavy enough and high enough, it can actually store energy.)

The device is a 2-meter-tall tower component containing around 20 kilograms of scrap metal, which has to be pulled up to generate electricity.

As it gradually drops, the weight will produce potential energy that will be converted into at least 12 watts of electricity that can be used for charging phones.

“Yung potential energy, kinetic, macoconvert siya into electrical energy nung generator,” Marfori shared.

(The potential energy, which is kinetic, can be converted into electrical energy by the generator.)

Along with the gravity storage device, the hub had also created an energy-producing wind turbine to further showcase the different sources of sustainable energy.

“Ang advantage niya is that kaya niya mag-generate [ng energy] at lower speeds. Mas common siya sa urban areas na di kasing lakas ang wind,” added Marfori.

(The advantage of this is that it can generate [energy] at lower speeds. This is more common in urban areas that don’t have strong winds.) —Jiselle Anne Casucian/VAL/VBL, GMA Integrated News