Great idea: Boots that use body heat to charge your phone

Here's a weird concept from an even weirder source: a pair of heat-to-energy cellphone charging boots from European telecom giant Orange. Called "Orange Power Wellies" after the popular rain boot, the kicks use power-generating soles that charge a phone faster the more active the wearer gets.

The boots' power-collecting abilities rely on what's known as the "Seebeck Effect," which involves electricity created from temperature differences. So, in this case the heat from one's foot would contrast with the cold of the ground, and the power-generating sole would convert and collect the resulting energy.

The design is part of an annual effort by Orange to think of new green ways to charge cellphones during the U.K.'s Glastonbury Festival, which is kind of like a Woodstock for music and the arts.

We love concepts like this as much as the next website, but if Orange really wanted to make an impact they'd actually start mass producing these things. These wellies will probably never see the light of day, though strapping your phone to your rain boots doesn't seem like such a great idea, besides.

Via Gizmag