Solar powered winter gear anyone?

I stepped outside to get some coffee this afternoon and it
was just terribly cold with the wind chill (-15c / 5F). I had a sweat and my
Pea Coat on with my scarf tightly in place around my neck. I didn't want any
freezing air to blow through my jacket. But it was nevertheless freezing. As I
was walking towards the coffee shop I was telling myself how nice it would be
to have a heated winter jacket. I could just imagine the joy of feeling a warm
breeze circulating around my body, pushing out any bit of cold, as if I was
walking in a space suite protected from all that surrounds me. With all the
talks of solar powered technology, it occurred to me that a solar power heated
winter jacket would be just amazing. The problem though, what happens on those
cloudy and/or snowy days? Where does the power come from? I don't see myself
wearing a huge battery pack or hydrogen fuel cell on my back – do you? I
wouldn't think so. But wouldn't it be nice if a new spray-on solar power
technology could capture solar energy and have it distributed within your
coat's inner fibers?

So when I got back home I did a 5 minute check on Google and
found there are actually some initiatives to do just that – solar powered
heated gear. For instance this article on TreeHugger showcases a solar powered hat and
gloves concept. But that doesn’t solve the low-light problem.
Interestingly enough, the INL has come up with a Infrared Nanoantenna concept
that captures infrared energy specifically, which means clouds or not, you've
got yourself an energy source. Check
this video on youtube that demos the technology.

So all in all, it seems that in some not too distant future
we could have heated winter gear, whether it's through solar power or through other
energy sources. I'm REALLY looking forward for this product to come out.