The Future of Energy: Innovation: 7 Cool New Ideas

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U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan often carry much more than 50 lbs. of equipment, including telephones, computers, night-vision goggles and, begrudgingly, the batteries to run them. The batteries alone can weigh as much as 4 lbs.

Researchers at the Army's Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Mass., would like to ease that load by turning soldiers into walking power plants. Iowa Thin Film Technologies began supplying the Army last year with pocket-size solar rechargers (weight 6 oz.) and tents embedded with flexible, plastic panels that can generate electricity. Soldiers field-testing the tents use them both for shelter and to operate medical or communications equipment. Another solar company, Konarka of Lowell, Mass., has also received a military grant and hopes to do away with solar panels altogether. The firm is developing light-sensitive fabrics that the Army can manufacture directly into power-generating, camouflaged tents, uniforms or backpacks. The military hopes solar power will allow soldiers to stay out on missions longer and safely travel farther from supply bases.

Civilians can benefit too. Iowa Thin Film Technologies already sells solar-powered radio headsets and rolls of its 13-in.-wide electricity-making plastic through a business unit, PowerFilm Solar. Konarka has partnered with another firm to design juice-generating clothing. For day hikers, Washington-based Reware sells backpacks embedded with lightweight, sun-sensitive plastic chargers that can juice cell phones and iPods. Roughing it has never been easier.

Putting Bugs in the Paint

You probably never thought your average house paint could help solve the world energy crunch. But Michael Flickinger, 54, founding director of the University of Minnesota's Biotechnology Institute, has found a way to make hydrogen--and then electricity--from genetically engineered bacteria embedded in the adhesive latex polymer particles that form the basis of most paints. Thinly coated onto plastic or metals, the polymers, which are infused with bacteria, are permeable to gases and nutrients. The coatings--about two-thirds the thickness of a sheet of paper--jump to life when exposed to light and begin making hydrogen gas, which can be captured in fuel cells and converted into electricity. Sounds cool, but what's it good for, exactly? "We're a couple of years away from showing practical applications," admits Flickinger. "But we're very optimistic about its future." Photo bioreactors already exist in labs, but because they're made from a slurry of bacteria and liquid that needs to be stirred constantly, they are inefficient and expensive. Flickinger's paint concept needs nothing more than waste carbon sources, sunshine and a thin coating of highly concentrated microbes. For the moment, more fundamental scientific and engineering studies are needed in the laboratory to prove the concept. But, one day, Flickinger's polymers could help wean us off fossil fuels, one light bulb at a time.

Flower Petal to the Metal