Hot Stepper Orange Power Wellies charge your phone using heat from your feet!
Here’s a great gadget idea for the green-conscious festival goer (or tech savvy farmer for that matter). Introducing the Hot Stepper Orange Power Wellies that can charge your mobile phone just by using the heat from your feet.
How’s this work? Well according to the press release from Orange: “The power collected in the ‘power generating sole’ is collected via a process known as the ‘Seebeck’ effect. Inside the power generating sole there are thermoelectric modules constructed of pairs of p-type and n-type semiconductor materials forming a thermocouple. These thermocouples are connected electrically forming an array of multiple thermocouples (thermopile). They are then sandwiched between two thin ceramic wafers. When the heat from the foot is applied on the top side of the ceramic wafer and cold is applied on the opposite side, from the cold of the ground, electricity is generated.”
Get all that? Me neither, but it basically means that for 12 hours of trudging through sludge or jumping around in front of Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage, you’ll get about one hour’s worth of power for your phone.
Andrew Pearcey, Head of Sponsorship at Orange UK said: “Orange remain loyal to the green ethos of the Glastonbury Festival and are committed to researching exciting new energy sources that can be used on site to ensure people can stay in touch with their nearest and dearest. The Orange Power Wellies use clean and renewable energy to create valuable electricity ensuring festival goers can text and phone their mates for the duration of the weekend”.
Sadly, it’s only at the prototype stage at the moment, which means your unlikely to be able to pull on a pair of these before the festival season kicks in.
To be honest, I’m not sure I’d recommend brining a flashy smartphone to a festival anyway. That is unless you want it covered in mud and cow poo by the end of the weekend. Still, great idea though!
