A QUANTUM OF SCIENCE
"Green power" takes on a whole new meaning
Researchers at the University of Washington have discovered a way to "tap" the small but renewable electrical currents found in trees by investigators at MIT in 2008. Usually these microcurrents (200 millvolts or less) would be incapable of running even small circuits, but electrical engineers from the UW have built special "boost converters" that take a low incoming voltage and store it to produce a greater output.
This is an entirely new and very exciting field where much is currently unknown but the potential exists for a wide range of low-voltage devices that might one day help with everything from early wildfire alerts to climate-change sensors to methods for measuring tree vitality.
For more information:
News article from the UW
Source of Sustained Voltage Difference between the Xylem of a Potted Ficus benjamina Tree and Its Soil (Love et al, 2008)
© AQOS / P. Smalley (2009)
Reproduction with attribution is appreciation
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