[frankthetank]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W') ASHINGTON - As soldiers, hikers and students can testify, it takes energy to haul around a heavy backpack. Now, researchers have developed a backpack that turns that energy into electricity.


It doesn't crank out a lot of juice — just a bit more than 7 watts — but that's enough to run things like an MP3 player, a personal data assistant, night vision goggles, a handheld global positioning system or a GSM cell phone.

The development could eventually allow field scientists, hikers, explorers, soldiers and disaster workers to produce their own electricity.

The researchers used a backpack fastened to the carrying frame by springs. The up-and-down motion caused by walking powers a small generator, producing electricity that can be used directly or stored in a capacitor or battery.

[strider3700]

screw the hiking, I have a whole forest full of tree branches that bounce in the wind and block enough of it to make traditional wind turbines pretty useless.