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Human Power For Human Upgrades

Posted by timothy on from the earth-for-the-humans dept.

Dozix007 writes "The human body, like any other machine requires energy to operate. However, during operation we release residual heat which can be used for power. Many people who rely on pacemakers and other artifical devices in their bodies may recieve 'upgrades' to avert the many surgeries per. year to replace dead and dying batteries. Not quite the Matrix yet, but we are getting there."

23 comments

  1. Duplicate by jkakar · · Score: 2, Informative

    This is a dupe from a couple days ago... still a semi-interesting read if you missed it.

  2. Matrix semi-ignorant by BinLadenMyHero · · Score: 1

    How this is related to Matrix?

    (I have seen only the first movie).

    1. Re:Matrix semi-ignorant by Fry-kun · · Score: 0

      using human body heat as a power source ;)

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      Did you know that "FTW" ("for the win") is a direct translation of "Sieg Heil"?
  3. Matrix? by sadler121 · · Score: 0

    So when our are computers going to combine this with a form of Fusion and be able to geneerate all the power they could ever need?

    1. Re:Matrix? by emorphien · · Score: 1

      I've thought about this kind of thing for use in laptops. Nanotechnology has been improving the conversion of heat to energy, and they work by being placed in a temperature differential (on a hot surface with cooler air surrounding it). If put in a laptop for example they could conceivably be located all over the place to provide power to things like fans and other smaller devices and overall help lengthen battery life some. We may never know how well it would work until someone tries it, but I bet it would be an interesting application in portable computers.

      --


      Presently here, but not there.
  4. Maximum efficiency when.... by Maxite · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... the person with this technology in them spontaneously combusts?

    --
    Ah, you found me!
  5. The Human Body Is An Endothermic Reaction. by dnahelix · · Score: 1, Informative

    Although we generate heat, on a microscopic level, our bodies need more energy put in that it can give out. All the food you eat requires energy put in to be produced and we get that energy out of the food. If any significant portion of that energy were drained, our bodies would have problems and eventually shut down. The heat from our bodies is generated collectively from individual cellular mitochondria.

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    1. Re:The Human Body Is An Endothermic Reaction. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      "Although we generate heat, on a microscopic level, our bodies need more energy put in that it can give out."

      Duh! Its amazing how often people speak of the second law of thermodynamics: In order to keep the entropy of our bodies constant heat must be rejected from the system (it is a machine operating in a cycle after all) and no conversion of energy from one form to another on a macroscopic scale can be 100% efficient unless the second form is heat.

    2. Re:The Human Body Is An Endothermic Reaction. by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Seated and at rest the body produces about 400 Btus per hour of excess heat which must be transferred to the environment. In contrast, climbing a steep set of stairs produces an excess of 4,400 Btus per hour. Since humans are warm-blooded mammals, the body needs to lose this excess heat because deep body temperatures must remain relatively constant at 98.6 F to prevent serious medical complications.

      That doesn't sound right to me, I thought deep body temperatures were more like 100 F and that 98.6 was just an orifice temperature. But that aside, the point is that generally speaking we produce more heat than we need. This is true except when the ambient temperature drops below a certain point, of course, but in general we're radiating heat like crazy. It only makes sense to make use of this heat loss when possible.

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    3. Re:The Human Body Is An Endothermic Reaction. by jpop32 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      ...but in general we're radiating heat like crazy. It only makes sense to make use of this heat loss when possible.

      Well, since majority of the body heat is released through the head, it will make for some interesting contraptions... :-)

    4. Re:The Human Body Is An Endothermic Reaction. by dnahelix · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Sure, it's a great idea to make use of the excess heat in our bodies somehow, maybe a hat that charges your cell phone.
      But that heat ultimately is paid for, in the form of groceries.
      The point is, you could not farm the radiant energy of off humans, because you would expend more energy keeping them alive.

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  6. Matrix by Deltawolf · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Perhaps we are not as far from it then. But taking heat from our bodies to produce energy would prompt our bodies to produce more energy thus consuming more resources. I doubt that it would be a viable solution any time in the future.

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    1. Re:Matrix by hob42 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Except it's a lot easier to eat a few crackers than to undergo surgery to replace a battery.

    2. Re:Matrix by AKAImBatman · · Score: 1

      Except it's a lot easier to eat a few crackers than to undergo surgery to replace a battery.

      You know, they used to use Plutonium to prevent this sort of problem. It was only after the whole Chernobyl scare that companies stopped producing pacemakers with long-life power sources. Sometimes I wonder how much of our technological "progression" is nothing more than an illusion.

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    3. Re:Matrix by jejones · · Score: 1

      But taking heat from our bodies to produce energy would prompt our bodies to produce more energy thus consuming more resources.

      Don't think of it that way...think of it as a potential weight loss method, like making you pedal a stationary bike to generate the energy to run your laptop or Game Boy.

  7. The Human Body as a Heat Engine by bd005 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yes, yes, and this is why, fundamentally, the Matrix doesn't really make sense.

    But I really doubt the 100 microwatts of power they are trying for will be significant enough to be noticed--your body gives off about 100 watts of radiation as it is.

    1. Re:The Human Body as a Heat Engine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dude, it's a movie. But I think Morpheus was fed his information by the Architect to keep him controlled.

  8. Oh nooooo! by eyepeepackets · · Score: 3, Funny

    Why does this idea of body-generated electricity conjure up images of weary airport travelers sitting in cheap plastic chairs, power cords running from their laptops up their legs, connecting to heat collecting anal probes, charging said laptops for yet another round of Whack-a-Mole, business style?

    Oy, and I thought the world was a strange place already.

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    1. Re:Oh nooooo! by shannara256 · · Score: 1
      Why does this idea of body-generated electricity conjure up images of weary airport travelers sitting in cheap plastic chairs, power cords running from their laptops up their legs, connecting to heat collecting anal probes, charging said laptops for yet another round of Whack-a-Mole, business style?

      Because you're a strange, sick little man.

  9. Interesting idea... by herrvinny · · Score: 1

    ...although you have to wonder what happens if something breaks. Doesn't the human heart use electrical pulses to actuate it's muscles? What happens if the person wearing this gets electrocuted by an outside source?

    1. Re:Interesting idea... by jejones · · Score: 1

      What happens if the person wearing this gets electrocuted by an outside source?

      It would be bad, of course, but it wouldn't have anything to do with the topic under discussion. The heat source that powers a generator doesn't have an electrical connection to the generator.

  10. We are the borg... by Uplore · · Score: 1

    Lower your weapons, submit to our authoritae.. All your base are... etc

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    1. Re:We are the borg... by Suidae · · Score: 1

      Hmm, "We are the borg, respect our authoritae", South Trek? Star Park?