New 'E-Kaia' technology harvests excess energy from plants to charge mobile phones
In want of a free wall outlet, future mobile phone users could simply plug in to the nearest cactus thanks to a new system called E-Kaia --?developed by a team of researchers in Chile --?that collects the leftover energy from photosynthesis.
E-Kaia can charge small devices, like mobile phones or LED lights, using a single healthy plant. As noted by the Manquehue Institute, the E-Kaia team says its invention can output as much as 5 volts at 0.6 amps.
For comparison, Apple's ultra-compact USB power adapter --?included with the iPhone -- pushes 5 volts at 1 amp.
Energy is captured from the plant via a "biocircuit board," though further details of E-Kaia's inner workings are scant. The group is reluctant to say more while its patents are still under review.
Creators Evelyn Aravena, Carolina Guerrero, and Camila Rupcich hope to commercialize E-Kaia this year, having received funding from the economic development arm of the Chilean government.
E-Kaia is not the first system of this type, but if the technology holds up it would prove to be by far the most efficient. Plant-e, based in the Netherlands, says its competing solution requires 100 square meters of plants to harvest a similar amount of energy.
E-Kaia can charge small devices, like mobile phones or LED lights, using a single healthy plant. As noted by the Manquehue Institute, the E-Kaia team says its invention can output as much as 5 volts at 0.6 amps.
For comparison, Apple's ultra-compact USB power adapter --?included with the iPhone -- pushes 5 volts at 1 amp.
Energy is captured from the plant via a "biocircuit board," though further details of E-Kaia's inner workings are scant. The group is reluctant to say more while its patents are still under review.
Creators Evelyn Aravena, Carolina Guerrero, and Camila Rupcich hope to commercialize E-Kaia this year, having received funding from the economic development arm of the Chilean government.
E-Kaia is not the first system of this type, but if the technology holds up it would prove to be by far the most efficient. Plant-e, based in the Netherlands, says its competing solution requires 100 square meters of plants to harvest a similar amount of energy.
Comments
At last, a use for cactuses
It is amusing to see who'll fall for a hoax. Perpetual motion anyone?
"Call within the next 30 minutes and we'll send you the whole home kit that turns your lawn into a 10KW "power plant" for just $99.95... (Processing and handling not included)"
Years ago I had a desktop clock (different, ancient tech) that used a potted plant--or a piece of fruit, potato, etc.--as the battery. It worked. Actually, it would go a while on our tap water alone (impurities)!
They didn't describe it as energy from photosynthesis, but I suppose that's what it was: the chemical action of the plant in the soil only has one power source: the sun.
Now, how MUCH better is the newer tech than what we had years ago? We'll see.
So this might go killing plants, or genetically modified plants to produce more energy to charge your phone, guess it'd be a good thing when lost in the woods too.
You just reminded me of those !
I'd completely forgotten about them - a school friend had one.
We hooked up lemons, oranges .... back when the world was a simpler place.
Kids these days have Internet pRoN on hand 24/7 :rolleyes:
For anyone halfway interested http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon_battery
links debunking this as a hoax, please?
oh, you dont have any. ok.
I would agree. The power level they get out looks impossibly high. Something doesn't add up.
“Excess” energy?
From mother nature?
Well, there's also this:
http://www.mescaline.com/sanpedro/
You can't get more than the theoretical out of leaves facing the sun.
Something smells fishy here.
A basic knowledge of physics and chemistry is sufficient to debunk. You'll have to obtain that yourself.
links debunking this as a hoax, please?
oh, you dont have any. ok.
I have not made the claim that 3W can be generated from a houseplant, they have. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. The onus is not on me to debunk this, though a basic understanding of chemistry and physics should be sufficient for most to do it themselves.
It is known how many watts can be generated per square foot of surface facing the Sun.
You can't get more than the theoretical out of leaves facing the sun.
Something smells fishy here.
Figure 1000w/m2 at noon on a sunny day. We already know how to harvest in excess of 20% of that via photovoltaics. Photosynthesis is not nearly that efficient (around 5%).
Energy not converted by the plant is lost as heat and reflected/fluoresced light. You can't recover that from the ground. Any plant material in the ground is there as a result of photosynthesis (energy used to create biomass), so you can't tap inefficiencies there, they've already been spent making the biomass.
The prototype shown just sticks two electrodes into the ground, where there's no ability to intercept/interfere with the plant chemistry. It's a hoax, but people such as the AI staff are free to be duped.
youre the one who claimed its a hoax, here on this forum. so you have to back that up.
otherwise, youre just some dude naysaying yet another thing he doesnt understand, like so many millions of others. if you cant provide any links backing up your claim that this device is some elaborate ruse (designed to what? ripoff investors? the govt of chile?), then its safe to assume you dont know anything more than the guy sitting next to me.
They're edible too:
[VIDEO]
They provide about 5W of body energy. Good for weight loss, you'll never want another one after the first.
Looks legit, check the video out:
[VIDEO]
Just plug it into any plant. Ignore it if the screen doesn't light up or it doesn't make a charging sound, that's what's supposed to happen (stealth charging). It has everything a public body would want to fund:
- young female engineers (shown in the video)
- modern technology
- environmental
The only thing left is to throw money at them.
People have tried potatoes before:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/a-potato-battery-can-light-up-a-room-for-over-a-month-180948260/?no-ist
but the problem in developing countries is that they need to eat the potatoes so that's where the other plants can come in. It says on the following page that a lemon battery produces about 0.0006 Watts of power so you'd need a few thousand to charge a smartphone:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon_battery
A plant isn't going to give off more than that especially when the probes just go into the soil. The story made it to a national newspaper:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3078365/The-ultimate-power-plant-Biocircuit-harnesses-electricity-soil-houseplant-charge-mobile-phone.html
"'E-Kaia is the future of portable energy and sustainable eco' said the engineers on their Facebook page."
I remember some of the greatest engineering marvels of our time being peer-reviewed on Facebook. Hold on though, there's doubt:
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/e-kaia-heres-smartphone-charger-invented-chile-that-takes-energy-plants-1500724
"So far, we remain limited in our scale of what products can be charged at this level, and we are working to increase energy production," said E-Kaia.
"First, we will produce a small amount of stock that will allow us to develop our technology as a service."
Maybe they can consult with other people and pass on the wizardy in their $8.26 charging box without selling the box first. Interesting business model, I wonder if any environmental startups have gone that route before.
There's an interesting thing about Chile's exports:
Pretty heavy on the copper there. Maybe they are just trying to come up with ideas on how to sell more copper to other countries by convincing them that plant-based probes with copper electrodes are the way forward for renewable energy. Everybody's got to make a living and everybody's trying to convince other people that what they have is worth something.
youre the one who claimed its a hoax, here on this forum. so you have to back that up.
otherwise, youre just some dude naysaying yet another thing he doesnt understand, like so many millions of others. if you cant provide any links backing up your claim that this device is some elaborate ruse (designed to what? ripoff investors? the govt of chile?), then its safe to assume you dont know anything more than the guy sitting next to me.
My claiming it's a hoax is not extraordinary and so no extraordinary evidence is required. As I said, a modest knowledge of chemistry and physics is sufficient to debunk their claim. I'm not obligated to provide that modest knowledge, though I will recommend you Google "solar insolation" to get an idea how much solar energy is available at the ground, "photosynthetic efficiency" to see how good plants are at using it and "photovoltaic efficiency" to see how good humans are at using it.