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Tapping Trees for Electricity?

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the dc-tree dept.

dr_agonfly writes "Despite many skeptics, a Massachusetts company is getting investor interest in developing a process to tap electric power from trees. MagCap is looking to boost the current power from just under 2 volts to a more useful 12 volts with investor funding." From the article: "Jim Manwell, director of the University of Massachusetts Amherst's Renewable Energy Resource Laboratory, questioned the potential of MagCap's plans. 'I'm wildly skeptical,' he said. 'I would need to see proof before I believed it. It strikes me as pretty questionable for a number of reasons.'"

2 of 392 comments (clear)

  1. Long way to go yet... by eldavojohn · · Score: 4, Interesting
    From the article:
    He expects to find investors to help pay for the research needed to figure a way to increase the tree power from less than 2 volts to 12 volts sometime this year, creating an alternative to fossil fuels.
    It sounds like they have a long way to go yet and there is reason for much skepticism. Everything has some amount of electric charge to it, even the surface of your skin. Does that mean we should research away to increase that small voltage to something larger so we can all walk around with extension cords hanging off our arms?

    Afterall, there was the man who did this accidentally!
    --
    My work here is dung.
  2. not too good for the tree... by dnamaners · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Yes your chemistry sounds about right, as the aluminum corrodes you get a current. However this can't be too good for the plant. Besides the obvious bit about a big spike being nailed in, aluminum ions are toxic to plants. As this thing makes "power" (which in it self is questionable due to the energy cost of refining aluminum) it poisons the tree. I am sure since IAPMB (I am a Plant Molecular Biologist) that the plant can tolerate a certain amount of aluminum, however quite a lot can come from acid soils and the environment. I am doubtful that any real amount of "power" can be harvested this way without killing (or severely stunting) the trees. In short, what the heck is the point, sure you can make a potato battery out of a tree. However like the potato clock, you don't expect the potato to survive long term as a living battery.

    Talk about the rape of the forests ... This must be forest BDSM.