The ‘Electromagnetic Harvester’ was built by Dennis Siegel, a Digital Media student from the University of the Arts in Bremen, Germany. It takes advantage of the electromagnetic fields that surround us, tapping into them and storing the unused energy in a standard battery.

By holding the harvester directly into the electromagnetic field, you can gain redundant energy from the power supply of devices like coffee machines and cellphones. Depending on the strength of the field, which is indicated by an LED on top of the harvester, it is possible to charge a small battery within a day.

This system provides access to already exisiting but unused energy sources, and exploring these can “create a new awareness of the invisible electromagnetic spaces.”

There are two types of harvester for different electromagnetic fields: a smaller harvester suitable for frequencies below 100Hz, and a larger one for lower and higher frequencies like radio broadcasts and Bluetooth.

Dennis Siegel