OK, I’m ducking out of the data center again to get a little fresh air and enjoy the wonders of nature. Too bad I can’t take a bit of all this power that surrounds me along for my jaunt to, you know, power an iPod or charge a phone in the great outdoors.

Wait. Evidently I can.

The list of winners of Ardica’s “Power to the People” contest is nothing if not a litany of clever ways to stuff battery power on my person and make use of it far from any traditional power source. Saints be praised. This is my kind of nature excursion.

Contestants were challenged to come up with clever ways to use Ardica’s miniaturized portable power system, called “the Moshi.” For the uninitiated, a Moshi Power Pack is a flat, flexible, water resistant, 11-oz. array of seven lithium-ion batteries packed in flexible foam and integrated with a computerized power controller. It can do things like fully charge your cell phone 20 times. And it can produce heat on demand.

“We received an amazing array of great ideas on how to use our portable Moshi power system. The final vote was very close, but the most elegant, practical and marketable design was the sleeping bag by the three Virginia Tech students,” said Hap Klopp, Director of Ardica.

Indeed the Virginia Tech team led by Kyle McCrory took home $5,000 for their sleeping bag application capable of providing heat on demand and simultaneously powering cell phones, MP3 players, lights, GPS devices and security devices. The entry was one of more than 100 submitted to Ardica’s team of judges which included technologists included Dr. Fritz Prinz, Chairman of the Mechanical Engineering Department at Stanford University, David Kelley, founder of the design firm IDEO, Ted Ganio, Joe Brown, Product Editor at Wired Magazine, and Brian Lam of Gizmodo.

Second place went to a team lead by Tony Smith, for a Coal Mining Respirator that uses Moshi juice to run a powered air filter.

Third place was awarded to the team led by Matthew Mangati which developed for a backpack for professional photographers to power their gear while carrying a lighter load.

Special recognition in the contest went to a student team led by Crosby Reinder for a Moshi-enabled Ski Patrol Vest that powers communications gear as well as a heated rescue blanket.

The rest of the finalists were:

• Fabio Teixeira dos Santos, Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina, Brazil. Wet suit with heating system by natural intuitive movements.
• Saravanan Nagasundaram, freelance designer. India, Heat therapy on the move addresses the world’s chronic back pain.
• Herng Fuu Yeh, Studio Y. New York. GLOW serving system with shot glasses, tray and charger for use in dim lit night clubs and bars.
• George Thomas, University of Alabama. A Portable Seat Heater that also charges one’s phone on the way to work.
• John Eng, Rhode Island School of Design. A Sleeping Bag Heating System that not only produces heat, but also acts as an expander to provide more room and comfort for the user.

"We know we have a great product. Our contest allowed designers from around the world to come up with innovative uses of the Moshi, and we were thrilled with the results. Some of these designs could definitely go to market," Klopp said.

To market, to the woods, to the mountains, or wherever else your jaunt away from the comfort of the data center takes you.