Ecogeek recently uncovered that Apple has filed a patent on a solar-powered iPod. Time will tell if the idea ever comes to fruition, but if it doesn’t I’m confident that something else will. One idea that I believe we will see in the near future is solar-powered clothes. The U.S. Army is already developing solar textiles and advances in the area of stretchable silicon suggests that even shoes could become solar collectors.
One additional application that we should see before long is shoes that “grow” with the wearer. According to this article, one company is already manufacturing shoes that can be manually adjusted as a child’s foot grow. Looking at the picture, though, they don’t look that comfortable. If, however, the shoes could gently stretch as the young wearer’s foot grows that’s seems a little more practical.
If someone can then combined a shoe that both collects energy and grows—well, that could be a real winner.
