This blog may help people explore some of the 'hidden' issues involved in certain media treatments of environmental and scientific issues. Using personal digital images, it's also intended to emphasise seasonal (and other) changes in natural history of the Swansea (South Wales) area. The material should help participants in field-based modules and people generally interested in the natural world. The views are wholly those of the author.
Tuesday 4 July 2023
In the Air, Tonight?
In the early 20th Century Nikola Tesla (who provided the inspiration for the electric car company) dreamed of pulling free electricity from the air around him. Recent, small-scale developments seem to have brought his dream a little nearer. It's been shown in several laboratories that electricity can be generated from humid (muggy) air. In especially-constructed microplastic tubes, airborne water molecules collide and develop charge. One recent spin-off, the Lisbon-based Catcher Project, aims to 'change atmospheric humidity into renewable power'. Successful use of this development will, of course, require impressive engineering and scaling up. A key problem might well be preventing micobial contamination of the apparatus by air-bourne bacteria (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/jul/02/it-was-an-accident-the-scientists-who-have-turned-humid-air-into-renewable-power). In theory, it's possible to extract sufficient electricity from humid air to power a home. This could be a very useful development for many parts of a our changing world. Just keep those bugs out!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Seeing the Changes 2023
In Bynea, Woodruff ( Gallium odoratum ) and Hemlock water dropwort ( Oenanthe crocata ) were in bloom. Also spotted my first Peacock ( In...
-
The UK government continue their quest to turn England's rivers back into sewers. They first facilitated the privatised water companies...
-
Garden plants in France, The Netherlands, The UK and Sikkim (NE India).
No comments:
Post a Comment