Heat the Feet
Hot sweaty feet may be annoying and pungent, but they can also generate energy.
While wearing Wellington boots, your hot feet can create and store enough energy to power a cell phone. The boots are a result of collaboration between British telecom company Orange and the green-minded folks at Gotwind.
Thermoelectric modules in the soles of the boots convert temperature differences into electric voltage. Twelve hours of stomping and sloshing will provide enough power to charge a cell phone for an hour.
Visit gotwind.org
Cats and Bones and Curtains
Who knew cat skin and human shin bones actually get thicker when stretched?
The folks at the University of Exeter and its spin-off company Auxetix do, that’s who. They’ve developed a “blast-proof” curtain based on the scientific properties behind this odd phenomenon.
If, say, a car bomb were to detonate near such a curtain, the fabric would stretch outward, thickening and making it better able to block shards of glass and other flying debris.
The curtain is intended for windows of buildings at risk of terrorist attacks or hurricanes and other natural disasters.
Know this: auxetic derives from the Greek word αὐξητικός (auxetikos), which means “that which tends to increase.”
Visit www.auxetix.com
Let Your Butt be Your Guide
Imagine if Hansel and Gretel left behind a trail of delicate plant buds sprouting in the forest – they’d never have been forced into murder.
San Diego-based greenbutts has designed cigarette filters manufactured from 100 percent, all-natural and compostable materials such as organic cotton and wheat flour. Put them in the ground and they can sprout into green grass shoots or even blooming flowers – not that the company condones littering.
Conventional cigarette filters are made from cellulose acetate and can take as long as 15 years to degrade, releasing chemicals into the environment in the process. Greenbutts is currently seeking investment and partnership opportunities.
Visit www.green-butts.com
Move Over, Prius
The Zerotracer is a tandem seat, fully-enclosed, all-electric motorcycle that sports a Kevlar body and is capable of driving 280 miles on a single charge.
It has a top speed of 155 mph, and zooms from zero to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds.
Developed by a team of four young Swiss engineers, it is the petroleum-free answer to transporting two people (very) swiftly, quietly and efficiently.
Visit www.zerotracer.com
Editor’s note: These and other innovations appear in the Radar section of the September 2010 print edition.
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