Y'know that ridiculous coat they slapped together the other week? Look at this....


http://masetv.com/tommy-hilfiger-new...nes-on-the-go/

Hilfiger do a man's one too; a fool and their money eh?!

$600 price tag too! Lord Sid missed a trick there, eh?

Someone did this back in 2009. Solar panels, heater and phone charger in a jacket.

http://www.treehugger.com/style/fina...ar-jacket.html

No flashing lapels though!

There's probably a reason why we're not all wearing them, and a reason why the tech-guy on TA just looked kinda bemused and then told them they can't have a solar-powered heated jacket.

Given that an average solar panel about 1ft x 1ft gives about 5w power, you're not going to get an awful lot of heat out of a couple of panels the size of a fag packet.

I think in theory it's actually a really good idea, but the big flaw in it is that solar power only really works when the sun is shining, and when that happens you don't really need a heated jacket anyway. Unless you could store the power and use it later.

No, the big flaw is, as I said, that you'd need a f**king huge solar panel to generate enough electricity to usefully heat an item of clothing.

But if you had one, why would you need it if the sun was shining anyway?

Just 'cos it's sunny it doesn't mean it's hot.

I would have had the solar panels on the back of the coat so that when you hang it up, you can hang it in front of a window and get the sun that way.

It would be a lot better than trying to catch the sun while on the move and much better than on the shoulders where the coat's collar or the person's hair can cover the panels.