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Batteries Powered by Leftover Food
Lazyhound writes "Technologists at the University of the West of England in Bristol have come up with a cheap, organic battery that can run on household leftovers, and be manufactured for just £10." There's also a New Scientist article. The New Scientist would like to point out that they broke the story, and the BBC followed up.
I bet you could power a HUGE beowulf cluster (sorry had to) if only you could harness the gas from everyone eating taco bell. Now theres something to do if you have leftovers. Sort of a gas/electric hybrid, watch for Honda's next innovation. Should be interesting!
On a leftover Twinkie, you could get power forever!
So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
Nice invention, but nowadays batteries are used mostly in cell-phones, PDA's, etc. With the trend of miniaturising these, I can already see the mess, trying to pry sticky leftovers in my cell-phone :(
Scientists say 50 grammes of sugar would keep a 40-watt light bulb lit for eight hours.
Now snif, snif, I can finally take that road trip with only a laptop and 200 liters of soda that I always dreamed of!!
if only they make a satellite dish that works on pickled weiners...
I dunno about carrots, but with sugar cubes, fruit and a little yeast, you'll get something with power in a few weeks, fer sure! Maybe the carrots are to stop you from going blind?
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Moms Can't yell at Kids anymore for not eating their dinner. I can see it now.
Boy: "Mom I don't want to eat my dinner!"
Mom: "Fine son well at least refresh the batteries in my Vibrator"
Boy: Sure Mom!!!
Sort of a gas/electric hybrid, watch for Honda's next innovation. Should be interesting!
Honest dear - if I stop farting in the car, we'll never make it there by 8pm!
Guess this gives a whole new dimension to the words "power hungry equipment"...
Finally i have use for all pizza slices all over my desk. Must be a godsend for geeks.
HTTP/1.1 400
So that's why they call those big tailpipes on the backs of sticker-laden Hondas "fart pipes"!
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
Inside the battery, which is the size of a personal CD player, a colony of E.coli bacteria produce enzymes which break down carbohydrates and release hydrogen.
I dont know how comfortable I would be with on eof these in my home...
woo hooo we can now get rid of the internal combustion engine!
Hmm. I like the idea.
I have no idea how this could work, but imagine uh nanobots or something that ran around your body using your fat for energy, and doing something useful, like uh strectching the muscles and whatever else nanobots do.
I now finally have SOMETHING to do with my moms MEAT LOAF
--JonnyBlog
Today we salute you Mr.regardless-of-topic-lets-post-beowulf-cluster-
Without paying any attention to the story at hand you stay true to your mission of spreading the gospel of the Grendel slayer.
Grendel slayer
Be it virus spreading lego men, Jon Katz fanclub winamp skins, or coffee grinders running Red Hat...
running Red Hat
...you can imagine them all in multiplicitous clusters.
clusters baby
So next time you're browsing slashdot ignore all the posts blasting Python, Perl or patent lawyers just set the threshold to -1 and do a search for the hero of the Geats, then think for a minute Geats and Gates? Is Beowulf a prophecy?
I hate to point out the obvious, but how will you remove the digested food from the battery?
(Of course, this is not a problem for backyard generator type of systems, but might be for your laptop)
-Quote- I've been running my fridge that way for years now! -/Quote-
That is exactly how I run my car too... Half eaten sandwhich over here, some chips on the seat, open soda cans between the seats, etc.
I still cant figure out why I can't have a second date with a chick tho. Go figure?
NO! NO! Please don't mod me, I'm too young to die a troll. *click* Oh the pain, the pain...
I imagine they will build the device so the actual reaction chamber (artifical gut?) would be enclosed. The hydrogen gas generated by the bacteria is converted to electricity and water vapor. Assuming rotten food is used, there will be waste from that. This leads me to the (obvious) question -- what kind of solid waste will this system produce and how will it be removed from the unit? We all know what the solid waste output from humans and animals is, so will the solid waste output from this unit be similar? I can see it now -- cleaning up dog crap, changing the litter box, and cleaning out the "organic battery" crap! I csn see it now -- "Honey, I got to take the car out to take a dump!"
Oh well, if the price is right, I guess I can handle disposing of a little more crap...
Beware of Sleestak
nickel-cadmium, lead-acid, nickel metal hydride, carbon-zinc, lithium... ummmm, it makes my mouth water.
Well that means my ex-wife will never have to worry about having a dead battery in her car ever again. She's got enough MacDonalds french fries stuck in the seat crack to crank the engine for *days*. And still have enough Joules left over to light Las Vegas on Christmas Eve.
harness the gas from everyone eating taco bell.
So, theorectically, a Slashdot Meetup could be used to combat rolling blackouts.
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
Finally, you're using the traditional "free-market" technique of *not* looking at *all the costs*. Continuing to use traditional power plants running on oil means that we're constantly having to defend our "interests" in the middle east, spending billions and billions of dollars on military equipment and personel. This military intervention is what keeps our oil prices low. Thus, part of that cost has to be figured in to the cost of the electricity, and at that point the sugar wins hands down, I think
Yes! Invade Hawaii!
I'm out of my mind right now, but feel free to leave a message.....
The nice part about this battery is, 'What happens if it runs out?'.
Simple. I have no idea about plants, but I imagine woodland creatures are bound to have some degree of the appropriate susbtances in them.
Gives a whole new meaning to the concept of an 'Energizer Bunny'.
Heh. This is how that'll go down...
A Light Snack (C)Stephen Notley
--Fesh
Kill -9 'em all, let root@localhost sort 'em out.