8 Unbelievable New Ways of Generating Electricity - MakeUseOf
Earth is in trouble, and it’s definitely our fault . It
seems clear at this point that traditional methods of
generating electricity are unsustainable, and we must
find new energy sources that do not produce as much
carbon (or dust off old ones, like natural gas and nuclear
power).
The recognized need for alternative power sources isn’t
new. We’ve seen massive solar arrays unveiled in vast
deserts, enormous on-and-offshore wind-farms, wave-
beams converting the power of our oceans , and a host of
biomass solutions arrive and disappear. However, these
forms of alternative energy are not the only game in
town: there are a number of weirder ways of generating
power that scientists are investigating.
- Harvesting Body Heat
A number of major cities have begun harvesting the heat
trapped in their vast metro systems. Millions of
commuters (not to mention the trains themselves) sealed
in the insulated environment of the metro can lead to an
enormous temperature differential.
The heat produced can be converted into power and heat
for local homes, apartments, and businesses. Five
hundred homes in the London borough of Islington,
offices parallel to the Stockholm metro , and a Parisian
residential block are all harnessing human heat, with
more buildings set to benefit in the near future.
The 2.5 million square-foot shopping mecca, Mall of
America, already utilises the heat generated by the sheer
volume of people passing through it. This heat combats
the usually harsh Minnesotan winter — so much so that
the building has no traditional central heating system .
Innovative thinking for the designers, way back in the
early 90s. - Confiscated Alcohol
When life gives you lemons, burn the lemons and use
them to power trains.
Sweden’s national customs service confiscated 185,000
gallons of illegally smuggled alcohol last year. Rather
than pour it all down the drain , the Scandinavian’s plan
to convert the seized alcohol into enough biogas to fuel
over 1,000 trucks and buses, and even a train.
Working with Svensk Biogas AB , the Swedish customs
agency aims to continue converting this free resource
into power for as long as smugglers keep attempting to
cross the border. By 2013 , bus fleets in more than a
dozen Swedish cities were running on biogas – though
not all from the smuggled alcohol. - Used Adult Diapers
Japan’s population is getting old fast. So old that in the
near future, Japanese sales of adult diapers will outgrow
sales of regular diapers . Seriously.
However, whilst the aging Japanese population may be
of wider economic concern, Tottori-based Super Faiths
Inc. innovative SFD Recycling System sees the burden as
a power-solution.
The SFD Recycling System takes used diapers, then
sterilizes, pulverizes and dries them in their patented
machine , returning biomass pellets reading for burning in
the appropriate furnace, returning around 5,000 kcal per
kg recycled. Not a bad return for an entirely useless
landfill article. Capable of “servicing” around 700lb of
used diapers per day, the system could well make its
way into retirement homes and large hospitals .
In a nation still reeling from the devastating 2011 Tohoku
earthquake and tsunami , and the resulting Fukushima
nuclear plant accident, alternative power solutions are
gaining credibility as Japan seeks to become energy
independent. - On the Dance Floor
More people power, please! The kinetic energy generated
by our everyday tasks is under the spotlight as
underground stations, nightclubs and gyms begin to
utilise piezoelectric harvesting technologies.
Piezoelectricity is generated in certain crystals in
response to compression force. If you have a surface
that’s moving for any reason, you can attach
piezoelectric crystals to it, and get small amounts of
energy out.
The accumulated electrical energy can be used to power
services within the same building or area, or routed to a
new location. Piezoelectricity isn’t an entirely new
phenomenon, with DARPA evaluating piezoelectric
generators in the boots of soldiers. However, we utilise
piezoelectricity more often than you might think: electric
cigarette lighters feature a piezoelectric crystal with
sufficient voltage to ignite the gas, resulting in a flame.
In the wild, we have seen Tokyo underground station
power its ticket turnstiles , and the world’s first
sustainable nightclub in Rotterdam , the Netherlands.
Piezoelectric energy-generation is also moving into the
rail-sector .
Israel Railways, in collaboration with the Technion
University and renewable energy company Innowatech
installed 32 piezoelectric energy capture devices along a
reasonably busy section of railway, harvesting some 120
kWh, enough to power signals, lights and track
mechanisms. - Thorium Reactors
Miniature nuclear reactors powered by just one ton of
radioactive thorium could feature in a new generation of
local power generation schemes. That said, thorium
reactors would require high-energy neutrons to trigger
their fissile activity, which has lead British scientists to
begin work on miniature particle accelerators .
A prototype, the Electron Model of Many Applications, or
EMMA, operates at around 20 million electron volts, or 20
MeV, which is a strong start. That said, a fair degree
of skepticism remains around the use of thorium and the
practicalities of building and maintaining a larger number
of local nuclear reactors. - Solar Power in Space
What could be more exciting or futuristic than a massive
solar array , floating on a platform above the planet,
beaming wireless electricity toward the Earth’s surface.
There are a lot of advantages to this option: no need to
take up valuable real estate on Earth, and no energy
fluctuations caused by weather.
That said, there is a long way to go with this form of
alternative power. Wireless electricity transmission, long-
term radiation shielding, meteorite protection, and the
sheer cost of putting the equipment into orbit are just
some of the stumbling blocks.
But John C. Mankins, President of the Space Power
Association and Artemis Innovation , believes that just as
nuclear power has received five decades of research, and
billions of dollars of research funding to arrive at our
current understanding, why shouldn’t there be a serious
financial effort toward harvesting solar power from
space?
In practice, a space solar power project might work
something like this: - Solar Wind
While we’re on the subject of space, let’s talk about solar
wind .
The solar wind consists of an enormous number of
charged particles, emitted by the sun at very high
speeds. In principle, these particles can be used to
generate electricity by using an enormous solar sail and
a charged wire, which generates energy from the solar
wind passing along it. According to preliminary analysis
by the University of Washington, the amount of power
you can generate is essentially limitless, constrained only
by the size of the solar sail you deploy.
Sounds good? It would be – if such a solar sail could be
produced and launched into an appropriate orbit.
It’s worth noting that that isn’t as far-fetched as you
might think. Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency
successfully launched IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-craft
Accelerated by Radiation of the Sun) in 2010, becoming
the first spacecraft to utilise solar-sailing as its main
form of propulsion. Their continued exploration is
providing immensely valuable data to research scientists
in a number of key areas.
That said, IKAROS is much smaller than the sails being
considered, so don’t hold your breath for solar wind to
become a practical option in the immediate future. - Jellyfish
Our oceans are becoming more acidic. As such, Jellyfish
populations are soaring. Most of them aren’t for human
consumption , but they may prove to be more useful for
another global issue. Swedish researchers have been
steadily liquifying large numbers of Aequorea victoria , a
glowing jellyfish common to the shores of North
America.
WHY? I hear you cry. For power, of course! The Green
Fluorescent Protein (GFP) contained within the jellyfish
can be used to create miniature fuel-cells that could be
used to power a generation of medical nano-devices .
GFP, applied to aluminium electrodes and exposed to
ultra-violet light generates power measuring in the “tens
of nano-amperes.”
It’s not insignificant. The development of biological fuels
could enable further research into bio-nanotechnologies
that require no external fuel or electrical current to
continue functioning. If the technology could be scaled-
up, it could be extremely useful in the long-run , especially
if our oceanic acidity issue continues.
Other Alternative Power Sources?
Some of the energy sources we’ve looked at here are
bizarre, but many may have practical applications down
the line. Others are already around us, providing us with
alternative energy in our day-to-day. This sort of energy
research is critical, if we wish to continue to sustain our
growing civilization without irreparably damaging the
planet.