Thomas, a brilliant 16-year-old inventor living in Romania, has created a DIY wind turbine cell phone charger for his bike that lets him charge his phone while he rides – and it only cost him $5! He’s shared the instructions on Instructables so that you can make one, too.

The instructions do require some rudimentary knowledge of how to work with electronics, but they are also very clear, so if you’ve got the tools on hand, you’ll figure out how to make Thomas’ green technology invention in no time!

More info: Instructables

16-year-old Romanian inventor Thomas created a $5 DIY wind turbine phone charger:

He often took long bike trips through nature, and his phone’s battery couldn’t keep up

He used a simple PC fan…

…and turned it into a wind turbine

Some of the tools he used:

The parts needed for the project:

For a complete set of instructions, check out his Instructable!