Can fashions be environmentally sustainable?

Dr. Lowman’s latest Nature’s Secrets column in newsobserver.com:

I own a backpack with its own solar array. When traipsing around in remote Amazon jungles, I can charge my laptop or cellphone from sunlight. This backpack gets more attention in airport security than any amount of liquids or gels and has the benefit of inspiring a teachable moment with many fellow travelers about the importance of sustainable energy. It also provides me, as a scientist, a fashion statement that conveys my passion for clean energy. At a global scale, Americans consume a disproportionate amount of energy, so efforts to seek sustainable and clean sources are paramount.

What about combining those two economic forces of fashion design and energy production into an economic solution? Several entrepreneurial companies are doing just that. In addition to solar-powered backpacks, what about power-generating Wellington boots, where heat from your feet charges your cellphone? British communications company, Orange, is collaborating with an energy group called GotWind to create such outdoor footwear. Another British inventor, Elias Stores, is developing a flexible fiber that is both piezoelectric (creates energy from movement) and photovoltaic (collects energy from the sun). So-called piezoelectric fibers could someday allow consumers to create energy from movement.

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