“We have the technology to harness energy from wind, water and the sun, but evaporation is just as powerful. We can now put a number on its potential.” Ozgur Sahin, Columbia University
Photo: (Ethan Sykes via unsplash.com)
Water is evaporating all over the world right now, so what if we could capture some of the energy created by this process?
That's the thrust of some interesting work going on at Columbia University where a team of scientists have developed tiny generators powered by the expansion and contraction of bacterial spores as evaporation takes place.
It's still early days, but researchers estimate that nearly three-quarters of the US's power usage could be satisfied if – and it's still a very big if! – the technology can be scaled up.
“Evaporation comes with a natural battery. You can make it your main source of power and draw on solar and wind when they’re available” - Ahmet-Hamdi Cavusoglu.
