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Energy Harnessed From Humidity Can Power Small Devices

Posted by Soulskill on from the send-them-to-the-midwest-for-infinite-energy dept.

sciencehabit writes: Scientists have built small devices that generate electricity by harnessing changes in the ambient humidity. This is done through the use of dormant bacterial spores which expand when they absorb moisture from the air. To prove the concept, researchers attached the spores to one side of a curved polymer sheet, and when the spores absorbed humidity from the air, the sheet straightened out. Coupling this movement with an electromagnetic generator allowed them to harvest enough energy to power small devices like an LED and a 100-gram toy car.

41 comments

  1. Great idea! by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I can power my ancient Sony Walkman with the black spores from inside my bathroom.

  2. Drinking bird? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anybody have one of these?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_bird

    Put those spore sheets on something like this and you have yet another perpetual motion machine.

    1. Re:Drinking bird? by gurps_npc · · Score: 1

      The device is ultimately powered by the sun - a combination of evaporation and wind provide the changes in humidity used for both the spore and the drinking bird.

      --
      excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
    2. Re:Drinking bird? by binarylarry · · Score: 1

      I don't get how the Sun could possibly turn into a bird.

      --
      Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
    3. Re:Drinking bird? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The drinking bird is not perpetual motion, it's a heat engine. The problem is that the difference in heat between the passively evaporating surface and the water temperature is so small, it can't do much actual work.

      That, and you have to refill the glass.

    4. Re:Drinking bird? by rjstanford · · Score: 2

      Just look at page 3.

      --
      You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
    5. Re:Drinking bird? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But if you weigh as much as a duck, you're a witch.

    6. Re:Drinking bird? by tobiasly · · Score: 1

      Hahahaha I'm a bit proud that as an American I was able to understand the multiple British layers involved with this joke.

  3. Useless in Houston by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Too bad the places with abundant humidity never seem to have dry days.

    1. Re:Useless in Houston by Rob+Riggs · · Score: 1

      There is this dry, air-conditioned place most of us here on /. never leave called "indoors".

      --
      the growth in cynicism and rebellion has not been without cause
  4. Electricity is for Luddites. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Modern app appers power apps using other apps!

    Apps!

    1. Re:Electricity is for Luddites. by MarioXXX · · Score: 1

      Modern app appers power apps using other apps! Apps!

      ...I like you.

      Comment Signature

  5. Nothing to see here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Waiting periods that separate these bursts bring the average power to 1.8uW

    1.8 microwatts? That could charge my phone in only 507 years!

    1. Re:Nothing to see here by ganjadude · · Score: 1

      I know right? no one should have ever invented the microchip because it was SOO underpowered compared to todays stuff...

      --
      have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    2. Re:Nothing to see here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      2+2 = 4 on a 1960s IBM mainframe just as much as today. 1.8uW was always a small amount of power.

      Get it? Clear yet? There's no connection between information processing and energy.

    3. Re:Nothing to see here by ganjadude · · Score: 1

      and AA batteries from today will last 100X longer than double A batteries from 20 years ago. so should we have never kept developing?

      Its a new tech, a proof of concept. I think its pretty cool, although useless at this point in time. we will see 5-10 years from now what happens

      --
      have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    4. Re:Nothing to see here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >and AA batteries from today will last 100X longer than double A batteries from 20 years ago. so should we have never kept developing?

      No, modern batteries have 2-3x more capacity than old carbon-zinc ones, and are only marginally better than alkaline batteries from the 90s.

  6. So... by Arkh89 · · Score: 4, Funny

    We will now get energy from the cloud, literally...

  7. What happens when they inflate to maximum? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Do you have to put it in the oven so they shrink back before you can use it again?

  8. I have a better idea! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Humidity-power... Can I use this to power my A/C?

    It seems like the perfect match.

    1. Re: I have a better idea! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nice. I was thinking a dehumidifier. Once the humidity is gone, it would just power down.

  9. Re:Harness injuries from fapping by binarylarry · · Score: 1

    The last time man kind decided to play god and harness the power of the fap.... tunguska.

    --
    Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
  10. Interesting concept, but... by American+Patent+Guy · · Score: 1

    it really isn't useful except where there is a changing atmosphere and the absence of a stronger source of energy such as the Sun. I imagine there are places on the Earth where this could be used, such as deep within caves or piping. Where there is a change in humidity, there is likely to be a change in temperature too. That means that a Peltier device or a battery might be a better choice in most cases.

    But I have no doubt that someone will, within a few days or hours, propose this as a solution to global warming. Let the games begin!

    1. Re:Interesting concept, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Aren't caves and such know for constant temperatures and humidity?

    2. Re:Interesting concept, but... by American+Patent+Guy · · Score: 1

      Yes, but this device operates on a differential of humidity. It would be useless unless there was a change in moisture in the environment.

    3. Re:Interesting concept, but... by Gryle · · Score: 2

      Depending on how sensitive it is, I could see it being useful in places like the Southwest US that are subject monsoons in the summer. Humidity builds during the day until a thunderstorm develops in the evening. The cycle starts all over again the next day.

      --
      Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not entirely sure about the universe - Einstein
    4. Re:Interesting concept, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was thinking, I know that there's clocks which never need to be wound, and they were built hundreds, if not thousands of years ago. How they worked was the changing barometric pressure would cause a spring to wined rather than having to do it manually. I wonder if maybe using this old school tech would be more efficient than expanding bacteria. And barometric pressure is generally way less stable.

    5. Re:Interesting concept, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That would be surprising since the entire concept of air pressure was unknown thousands of years ago. Got a link for your claim?

    6. Re:Interesting concept, but... by Demonoid-Penguin · · Score: 1

      it really isn't useful except where there is a changing atmosphere and the absence of a stronger source of energy such as the Sun.

      What if, and I know this is way out there, but what if there was an environment where the humidity levels changed on, say, a daily basis - like, um, not inside a house?

  11. iArmpit by goombah99 · · Score: 1

    Google announced today an armpit powered personal server.

    --
    Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
    1. Re:iArmpit by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Oracle announced today the methane-powered FART processor that will out gas any Intel processor.

    2. Re:iArmpit by nospam007 · · Score: 1

      "Google announced today an armpit powered personal server."

      That was not real, they'll just do a moustache-powered Google Glass.

  12. Introducing My New Product... by Irate+Engineer · · Score: 2

    ...the Power Shower (tm) Curtain!

    That's right folks, you heard correctly...now you can sing along at high falsetto with your shower radio with the extraordinary power of a steamy shower and your grotty black-mold-covered flapping shower curtain!

    Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some paperwork to file at the USPTO and multiple-martini lunches with venture capitalists to schedule.

    Capitalism FTW!

    --

    Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!

    Vote for Bernie in 2016!

  13. Ayn Rand was right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who is John Galt?

  14. Matrix v1 ? by coffecup · · Score: 1

    Coming to a bathtub near you soon....

  15. It's a self-powered humidity/spill sensor. by denzacar · · Score: 1

    Start there.

    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
  16. great invention by jan_jes · · Score: 1

    its interesting to watch the whole evaporation driven invention video. On one side Graphene glows the bulb and on another bacteria. Which would be better to understand, either chemistry or biology?

  17. Slashdot, you have failed me by tobiasly · · Score: 1

    How is it that a day after an article is posted about REAL-LIFE MOISTURE FARMING we don't have a single Star Wars joke??

    1. Re:Slashdot, you have failed me by jfengel · · Score: 1

      It's because nobody speaks the binary language of moisture vaporators. Sure, it's a lot like the language of binary loadlifters, but the joke just doesn't work in translation.

  18. Re:Harness injuries from fapping by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    *Jizzawats