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Solar Powered Soldiers Wear A Uniform With Built-In Batteries
Kerry Trueman February 6, 2008 | 9:29 am EST
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The average U.S. soldier needs 88 AA batteries for a five-day mission. That’s a lot of weight to haul around, but a new high-tech fabric that incorporates solar powered batteries into cloth could go a long way towards lightening that load, according to NPR’s Living On Earth:

“¦these threads are a fraction the thickness of a human hair. When they’re made out of battery electrodes and photovoltaic and fuel cells and then stitched together, they constitute a fabric that captures and stores energy while it’s worn.

Florida researchers designed the machine for the military, but as Living On Earth’s Mitra Taj noted:

The new technology might help in civilian life too, boosting efforts to make environmentally friendly power sources that multitask””imagine a jacket that keeps you warm while charging your cell phone.

Nice to see the military-industrial complex, which once brought us Agent Orange, being an agent of green.

Find out more about solar power’s potential at solarpower.org.

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4 Responses to “Solar Powered Soldiers Wear A Uniform With Built-In Batteries”

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  1. 366 views?? Wow! way to go!!

    Nicole HughesNo Gravatar February 6, 2008 | 12:04 pm EST

  2. 489 now!
    We should all go solar.
    The internal combustion engine sucks life.

    I.C.E.
    Inspired by Alan Southwell
    Written for Al Gore

    The Internal Combustion Engine, i, c, e, for short,
    Is a killer and polluter, but man uses it for sport.
    So he has trouble dealing with what he must hear,
    That to use it is killing us. Will he at least shed a tear?
    Let’s use our sun and the wind. Let our farmers grow crops.
    Then we will surely survive, as the carbon content drops.
    We have a moral imperative, to do the right thing;
    To save our great planet. Listen as all alarms ring!
    The pole ice is melting, the bears losing ground.
    We have done major damage, since we saw earth as round.
    A truth has been revealed, by a man on a mission.
    Let’s get our foot off the pedal, give him our permission
    To redirect our future. Lets follow Al Gore.
    The correct balance of nature, he will help us to restore.
    Gold is not that funny, its our youth that are.
    So lets spend all our money to put carbon in a jar.
    Internal combustion engines are such dirty things.
    They run cars and factories and puts planes up on wings.
    The carnage they create, and the pollution in the air.
    Means we have to save our children, we have so little to spare.
    For through them we are immortal, they give us loving lives.
    We must only cut so much, then save the rest for future knives.
    We should be leaving this planet with love but without a trace.
    Now that An Inconvenient Truth is staring us in the face.

    Love Lora Bruncke

    lora brunckeNo Gravatar February 6, 2008 | 4:25 pm EST

  3. Go Army!

    MarcNo Gravatar February 6, 2008 | 4:58 pm EST

  4. [...] Source:Takepart [...]

    Environmental News, Eco-Friendly Gadgets - FreshAirTimes.eu » » Solar energy to be used in soldiers’ uniforms February 16, 2008 | 3:53 pm EST

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