Harnessing power from trees
15.2 years ago electronics
Some UW researchers have determined that if you add a couple of similar metals in a tree it produces electricity. Though only 200 mV so we won’t be moving to tree power anytime soon. Though the articles mentions some applications such as detecting environmental conditions or forest fires.
To me the most interesting part is they don’t exactly know the cause of this voltage, though they theorize that “there seems to be some signaling in trees, similar to what happens in the human body but with slower speed.”
15.2 years ago
When I've read this and the power they are able to draw (a couple of nW) I wondered if they in fact harvested electromagnetic waves produced by men (WiFi, Radio, etc.) instead of some power generated by a tree. And then I wondered what happens when lightning strikes, too. This all seems not to be competitive with even a tiny solar cell.
15.2 years ago
Ragnar, I would agree on the practicality assuming there was some science behind it to back it up. Even over soloar cells a couple of watch batteries can run a circuit for sometime. Though if you happen to be stuck in the wilderness with a dead cell phone battery and endless supply of nails and wire… 🙂