Dutch Harvest Electricity From Living Plants To Power Streetlights, Wi-Fi & Cell Phones | Collective-Evolution

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1. December 1, 2015 at 8:38 am

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   Green energy: using plants for power
   Scientists from Cambridge University are creating electricity using plants
   http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/11465197/Green-energy-using-plants-for-power.html

   Bright sparks at Cambridge University have harvested energy produced by plants to light a “green bus shelter”.

   Unveiled on March 10, the prototype Plant to Power hub is now open to the public at the Cambridge University Botanic Garden.

   With architects MCMM, the team designed specially adapted vertical green walls that harvest electrons, naturally produced by as a by product of photosynthesis.

   The walls are made from a synthetic material containing pockets, each holding a litre of soil and several plants. The back of the pockets are made of carbon fibre, which receive the electrons.

   The structure of the hub allows different combinations of the photovoltaic and biological systems to be tested. One of the green walls is housed being a semi-transparent solar power so the effect on the plants’ ability to generate current can be monitored.

   Bombelli said, “To address the world’s energy needs, we need a portfolio of many different technologies, and it’s even better if these technologies can operate in synergy.”

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2. December 1, 2015 at 8:41 am

   Tomi Engdahl says:

   “Plant Lamps” Turn Dirt and Vegetation into a Power Source
   http://www.technologyreview.com/view/543781/plant-lamps-turn-dirt-and-vegetation-into-a-power-source/

   Researchers in Peru have a new way to capture electricity from plants and bacteria to help rainforest communities.

   Researchers at the Universidad de Ingeniería y Tecnología (UTEC) have developed a technique for capturing the electricity emitted from plants. Actually, to be fair, it’s Geobacter— a genus of bacteria that live in the soil — that do the grunt work. Robby Berman at Slate explains the process:

   “[N]utrients in plants encounter microorganisms called ‘geobacters’ in the dirt, and that process releases electrons that electrodes in the dirt can capture. A grid of these electrodes can transfer the electrons into a standard battery.”

   UTEC has partnered with global ad agency FCB to produce 10 prototypes and distribute them to houses in the rainforest village of Nuevo Saposoa. Each contains an electrode grid buried in dirt, in which a single plant grows. The grid connects to a battery, which powers a large LED lamp attached to an adjustable arm on the outside of the box.

   For Nuevo Saposoa and other underserved communities, this is more than just a crackerjack bit of biological engineering. Electricity, and lighting in particular, are a very real need. Berman writes:

   “In the rainforest villages of Nuevo Saposoa and Pucallpa in Perù, there’s an existing electrical grid, but since a flood last March damaged its cables, it hasn’t been working. Forty-two percent of the communities in the rainforest don’t have even that much. Sundown means lights out, a real problem for families with small children—and for students who need to study—unless they resort to unhealthy and dangerous kerosene lamps.”

   If the “plant lamps” (that’s UTEC’s name, not mine) are successful, their appeal isn’t going to be limited to rainforest communities. Who wouldn’t want a houseplant that cut back on their electric bill?

   It’s worth noting that UTEC’s researchers are hardly the first to make use of Geobacter — they’re some of biotech’s most talented microbes. In 2009 Time named the “electric microbe” one of its 50 best inventions of the year. Recent research confirms they’re electrically conductive to boot, which means in theory they can act like nanowires for transmitting electricity.

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