I found several interesting projects or companies, but I'm still doing research. There's just so much out there to learn! Here are a few that I wanted to highlight first:
VoltreeVoltree Power has created a
Bioenergy Harvester that changes plant energy into electricity. It is mostly used in "mesh networks," where small amounts of power are needed over very large areas. One of its uses is to power networks of biological sensors that detect forest fires and other environmental conditions, where it replaces hundreds or thousands of batteries (that therefore don't have to be manufactured or disposed of). It's not the same as a soccer ball that powers a cell phone, but I found it very interesting.
Glass LeavesResearchers Michel Maharbiz (University of California, Berkeley), Ruba Borno (University of Michigan) and Joe Steinmeyer (MIT) have developed a "glass leaf" that produces tiny amounts of electricity by sweating water the way natural leaves do. It's an energy scavenging system, so the amounts produced are very tiny, but imagine a building decorated with lovely glass trees that help power the lights!
Orange PowerWatch
the video. 'Nuff said.
Kite PowerSaul Griffith talks about the potential for power generated from kites in this TED video -- and this IS lots of power, house-supporting power, power for the entire United States within 10 years. An
older reference here talks about kite power in Italy, but other than Saul Griffith's company, I didn't find any current information on kite power.
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