Seems like green technology is quickly making its way into the armed forces! Troops across the planet are constantly trying to cut down their reliance on conventional energy sources and at the same time extract the maximum possible utility from their surroundings. In an effort to do so, more and more are turning to solar power as they try and turn the harsh combat terrain from a foe to a friend.
Project ‘Solar soldiers’ in the UK is trying to tap into both solar energy as well as principles of thermoelectricity in an attempt to make the life of a soldier easy on the battlefront. Team of 15 scientists from 6 Universities across the UK are involved in this project that is trying to build a suit that will store energy from the sun and convert it into useful power.
By using small photovoltaic cells in the suits of the soldiers and accumulating all the power produced, the final goal is to cut out on the huge batteries that men have to carry around on the battlefront in their backpacks. Also available will be thermoelectricity as an effort is being made to generate power due to the varied temperatures that soldiers experience out in the field.
This could be due to diverse exposure to sunlight that sees a difference in the heating of the suits or even a temperature drop that occurs thanks to day/night change. The new technology is far from ready for field testing and might take at least another couple of years before we see it in operation. While war is not something we are too fond of, the effort to go green and clean is something we can totally get behind.
Via: Daily Mail
