Bizarre sources for alternative energy

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·         Body Heat

Body heat can warm an entire building, complete with offices, apartments and shops.  In fact, Jernhuset, a state owned property Administration Company is putting together a plan to capture body heat from train commuters traveling through Stockholm’s Central Station.  The idea is that the heat will warm water running through pipes, which will then be pumped through the building’s ventilation system.  While in Paris Habitat, owner of a low-income housing project in Paris, will use body heat to warm 17 apartments in a building as well.  The said housing project is directly above a metro station near Pompidou Center.  

·         Sugar

Currently, researchers and chemists at Virginia Tech are developing a means to convert sugar into hydrogen.  In which can be used in a fuel cell, and in turn it will provide a cheaper, cleaner, pollutant-free and odorless drive.  The scientists combine plant sugars, water and 13 powerful enzymes in a reactor, converting the concoction into hydrogen and trace amounts of carbon dioxide.  The hydrogen could be captured and pumped through a fuel cell to produce energy.  Their process will translate into cost savings; it delivers three times more hydrogen than traditional methods.

·         Solar Wind

This is way more powerful than humility currently needs is available right now, out in space.  A stream of energized, charged particles flowing outward from the sun is actually from the solar wind.  Brooks Harrop, a physicist at Washington State University in Pullman and Dirk Schulze-Makuch of Washington State’s School of Earth and Environmental Science, think they can capture these particles with a satellite that orbits the sun the same distance Earth does.

·         Feces and Urine

Feces contain methane, a colorless, odorless gas that could be used in the same way as natural gas.  Human waste is also good and so is urine. 

·         Vibrations

Club Watt in Rotterdam, Netherlands is using floor vibrations from people walking and dancing to power its light show.  The vibrations are captured by “piezoelectric” materials that produce an electric change when put under stress.

While the U.S. Army use piezoelectric technology for energy.   They put the material in soldier’s boots in order to charge radios and other portable devices.   But it’s not cheap although this is an interesting renewable energy with great potential

·         Sludge

The waste-to-energy technology is designed to be on site which means companies can save on trucking costs, disposal fees, and electricity. Although the research is still on going, estimates show that a full-scale system can potentially generate 25,000 kilowatt-hours per day to help power reclamation facilities.

·         Jellyfish

Jellyfish that glow in the dark contain the raw ingredients for a new kind of fuel cell. Their glow is produced by green fluorescent protein, referred to as GFP.  A drop of GFP onto aluminum electrodes and then exposed that to ultraviolet light will make the protein released electrons, which travel a circuit to produce electricity.  Similar proteins have been used to make a biological fuel cell, which makes electricity without an external light source.  As a substitute of an external light source, a mixture of chemicals like magnesium and luciferase enzymes, which are found in fireflies, were used to produce electricity from the device.   These fuel cells can be used on small, nano devices like those that could be surrounded in a person to diagnose or treat disease.

·         Exploding Lakes

The three "exploding lakes" were called such for the reason that they contain huge reservoirs of methane and carbon dioxide trapped in the depths by differences in water temperature and density. If temperatures should change and the lake turns, these gases would immediately fizz to the surface like a shaken bottle of soda, killing the millions of people and animals living nearby.

·         Bacteria

Billions of bacteria live out in the wild.  They have a survival strategy like any living organism for when there is a limited food supply.  E. coli bacteria store fuel in the form of fatty acids that resembles polyester.  That similar fatty acid is required for the production of biodiesel fuel.  Because of these, the researchers are seeking for genetically modify E. coli microorganisms to overproduce those polyester-like acids.

 

·         Carbon Nanotubes

From armor-like fabrics to elevators that could lift cargo between Earth and the Moon this is one of the range of potential uses of the carbon nanotubes, these are hollow tubes of carbon atoms.  Lately, scientists from MIT have a found a way to use carbon nanotubes to collect 100 times more solar energy than a regular photovoltaic cell.  It could work as antenna to capture and funnel sunlight onto solar arrays. This means that instead of having an entire rooftop covered in solar panels, a person may need just a small space.

·         Trains

Widening the imagination when it comes to energy would get us to producing energy like nature do: free and efficient.  According to London Mayor Boris Johnson, excess heat from the subway tunnels and an electric substation will be funneled into British homes.