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!
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