A Charge To Your Step At This Year’s Glastonbury

For all those who have found themselves in the desperate situation of a cell phone screen prominently displaying the image of a red hollow battery just when you need to make a call, there is good news. And it comes in the form of a Wellington boot.

 

A green remedy to this very ill is being unveiled at this year’s Glastonbury Festival for the Performing Arts, which will be taking place next week in the UK.

 

At the five-day festival, which kicks off June 23, an estimated 150,000 revelers will gather on the 900-acre site on Worthy Farm to hear the likes of Stevie Wonder and The Muse (U2 is out on account of a Bono Back injury). Thanks to collaboration between the cell phone provider Orange and the green energy company, Got Wind, festival goers can sport a new Wellington boot equipped with an electricity-generating sole. Now, Orange cell phone customers can charge their phones—and have dry feet—while getting their jigs on at the “Chill Tent” at this year’s Glastonbury festival.

 

Here's how it works: The sole contains numerous thermoelectric modules, which form a thermopile. The thermopile is sandwiched in the middle of the sole where it is exposed to both heat from the foot and cold from the ground, creating what’s known as a ‘Seebeck’ effect, a conversion of temperature differences to electric voltage. The voltage is funneled into an outlet that will fit one of Orange’s cell phones so that users of the boot can charge their phones as they stomp the grounds of the Festival. 

 

At past Glastonbury Festivals, Orange, the event’s official sponsor, has tested a number of eco-inventions that harness the energy created by the human foot. Last year, to charge its line of cell phones, Orange tested the Power Pump, which generated electricity through a traditional foot pump, and two years ago the Dance Charger took advantage of the kinetic energy created by dancing in order to re-juice its cell phones.

 

With no plans for further product development or production, the festival will serve only as a testing ground for the boot. “Orange remains loyal to the green ethos of the Glastonbury Festival,” said Andrew Pearcey, head of sponsorship at Orange UK, and is “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."  Indeed, an added incentive to get your groove on and shake those feet.