Solar bag

We've written a decent amount about energy here. That makes me secretly very happy because I actually think it's an area with lots of room for improvement. Anyway, I always end up back at that gigantic battery in the sky when I start thinking about energy.

Whilst backpacking a week or so ago I got to thinking about what would help solve the energy issue. Batteries are heavy and liquid fuel can be bulky. I was thinking that some solar panels on a backpack hooked up to portable batteries might give you some flexibility on this. The batteries could power lanterns, flashlights, cameras...possibly even a small stove. They could also be for use in a GPS unit or cell phone. I think the easiest thing would be one battery that had attachments for the rest of the devices mentioned above.

This would only work if you walked in the sun, but I'm sure you'd be doing that for part of your trip. And maybe they wouldn't get enough charge to last the whole time, but it would help a little bit.