Shirt Power

Imagine the day when you can power your iPod just by moving around. Once again technology can lead to some amazing things.

Scientists at Georgia Tech are weaving tiny nanowires into fabric. (A human hair is 1,800 times thicker than these wires.) When these wires rub against each other a piezoelectric charge is generated, captured and fed into a circuit. The exciting news is that any rubbing together, even from the smallest of movements, will generate electricity.

Georgia Tech is not alone in this research. A Japanese railway is experimenting with mats at the turnstiles that would make electricity from all the commuters’ footsteps. French scientists are working to generate energy when raindrops hit a specifically designed structure.

As new energy sources are being explored, old ones (the piezoelectric effect was known of even in the 1800’s) are resurfacing with new potential.

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Notyak! You don't have to become a yak herder to do something good for the environment. www.notyak.com

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See green articles our President, Dixie Schmatz, has written for businesses at www.EvanCarmichael.com/Going-Green/

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