Electricity Generating Clothing

I can still remember having a discussion with one of my classmates a few years ago about the advent of clothing that could power mobile devices. Back then, we theorized that the clothing should be able to harness kinetic energy from human motion, in a similar way that kinetic watches are powered by the pendulum like motion of the wearer's arm while walking.

Now, electricity generating clothing is almost a reality. David Carroll of Wake Forest University along with his students have developed a material dubbed as Power Felt. It is a material which they synthesized using carbon nanotechnology. It uses the principle of thermo-electricity instead. It converts body heat into electricity. In the video, a 1 inch by 1 inch Power Felt material was able to generate roughly 2 mV of voltage after being held between the thumb and index finger for sometime. While the voltage levels were erratic, I'm sure that with the use of suitable electronics, the varying voltage can be converted to a stable DC supply which is important for mobile devices.

From money.cnn.com 

It is not clear from the video if more area, and hence more Power Felt, is necessary to generate more electricity. One might initially think in terms of solar panels, stating that the more panels there are, the more electrical energy one will be able to generate. I would think that trying to cover as much surface area of your body as possible will generate more electricity, Patients with a fever would probably be more productive than those who are out cold (pun intended).

One could probably envision a wetsuit with a mesh of power felts in a grid-like arrangement becoming an ideal mobile power source. The U.S. military is probably working with this technology to enhance the arsenal of soldiers on the field.

Perhaps, later on, the idea of humans as being part of the electric grid, seen in the Matrix, may not be far fetched. People would be wearing electric generating suits for most part of their days, and even in their sleep, only removing it to take a bath. The scenario would probably stink.

You could even think of spans of this material being placed near heat sources like ovens, refrigerators, furnaces, etc. to act as an additional means of generating electric power. This would at least augment the electric bill.

As for drawbacks, the first thing that comes to mind would be the suit being a source of electric shock. The person wearing it might get fatally electrocuted.Engineers would probably come up with safeguards against these but it would bring a whole new meaning to phrases like "dressed to kill".

These are the types of technologies we, as members of the human race, should be investing in especially as the sources of energy in the world are gradually waning. Angel Investors, Venture Capitalists, and private research agencies would be better off placing their money in this type of research instead of "the next fun thing". The next internet application or video game will not even run if global power eventually goes out. We should be preparing for the future right now. We know that the world's oil supply will run out before century's end. Coal deposits might follow suit. And unless a new means of energy can be harnessed to meet the global demand, anarchy and chaos awaits once people experience the energy shortage. Can we survive a world without power? Perhaps power felt will allow us to avoid this question.