Recharge your smartphone simply by breathing

Now here's a way to make sure that you don't waste your breathe.

The AIRE Mask, invented by Brazilllian designer Joco Paulo Lammoglia, was conceived as way of enabling people to recharge their mobile gadgets simply by inhaling and exhaling. Consisting of tiny wind turbines, the mask converts free, renewable energy into electricity and sends it via a cord that connects to the device. The energy is "free" in the sense that power is harnessed from the one fundamental thing we're all required to do anyway every single second of the day.

"Harnessing energy from human activities and transforming it into electricity is possible and is a great solution, Lammoglia told the Daily Mail. "It's energy is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

And while you can theoretically be eco-friendly and recharge your iPod as you lying around being a couch potato,  Lammoglia points out that it would be much more beneficial for both you and your device if you went out for a jog (Repeat to yourself: more huffing and puffing = more battery juice).

"It can be used indoors or outdoors, while you're sleeping, walking, running or even reading a book," Lammoglia said. "Besides saving energy and helping environmental preservation, it also encourages physical exercise."

For now, the AIRE Mask is only a concept. He told the Huffington Post that "at this moment, we don't have the technology for it. However, don't be too surprised if one day you see it for sale at your local Best Buy. The design was recently named the winner of the Red Dot Design Award for Design Concept  award, though he might have some difficulty convincing people who, I don't know, may feel a tad silly running around their neighborhood looking like a psychopath or Darth Vader.

I guess it depends on whether it more important to be "green" or to care about what other people think.

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This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com