There's enough power in trees to run an electronic circuit, says a new study. A study last year led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) found that plants generate up to 200 millivolts when one electrode is placed in a plant and the other in the surrounding soil. 'As far as we know this is the first peer-reviewed paper of someone powering something entirely by sticking electrodes into a tree,' University of Washington (UW) associate professor of electrical engineering and study co-author Babak Parviz said. The researchers have since started a company developing forest sensors that exploit this new power source. The UW team sought to do further academic research in the field of tree power by building circuits to run off that energy. They successfully ran a circuit solely off tree power for the first time. Co-author Carlton Himes, UW undergraduate student, spent last summer exploring likely sites. Hooking nails to trees and connecting a voltmeter, he found that bigleaf maples, common on the UW campus, generate a steady voltage of up to a few hundred millivolts. The UW team next built a device that could run on available power. Co-author Brian Otis, UW assistant professor of electrical engineering, led the development of a boost converter, a device that takes a low incoming voltage and stores it to produce a greater output. His team's custom boost converter works for input voltages of as little as 20 millivolts (a millivolt is a thousandth of a volt), an input voltage lower than any existing such device. It produces an output voltage of 1.1 volts, enough to run low-power sensors. The UW circuit is built from parts measuring 130 nanometres and it consumes on average just 10 nanowatts of power during operation (a nanowatt is one billionth of a watt). 'Normal electronics are not going to run on the types of voltages and currents that we get out of a tree. But the nanoscale is not just in size, but also in the energy and power consumption,' Parviz said, according to an UW release. Tree power is unlikely to replace solar power for most applications, Parviz admits. But the system could provide a low-cost option for powering tree sensors that might be used to detect environmental conditions or forest fires. The electronic output could also be used to gauge a tree's health. These results are slated for publication in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' Transactions on Nanotechnology. source : Indo Asian News Service
That is so cool... i did not knwo about this.. I have heard the electricity generates from teh water but did not knwo about this.. its cool information
Thanks for the information, its a good news, anywase hope that we may ultimately find a good alternative for the fossil fuels!!!!!!!!
I have heard about a guy in Assam, who can charge battery of a cell phone by he leaf of a tree. It's really amazing. May be it is same with the above discussed topic. Can anybody scientifically explain it to me?
well this is really awesome that plants generate electricity. it is really an worthwhile discovery and this can help research work further which could be productive to the electricity department. plants can be further studied for the cause and can be modified genetically to produce electricity.
great news for the mankind!! but then this should not be used against the laws of nature. already the forest is decreasing in size for the trees being cut down. we should plant more and more trees and this electricity generation should be taken up from plants being solely grown for this purpose.
That's a good news but I think it again create danger for our trees which are lifeline for our good nature. I have heard about a study which tells we can create electricity by using plastic and I find it very interesting as well. If anybody wants to read about that study then visit this link > http ://trendsatglance.blogspot. com/2011/02/how-to-conduct-electricity-by-using.html
WOw! You have given a great information on how to generate electricity from the tree. I have always known that wood is used when you get a shock. i did not know that wood can also generate electricity. That is a great information thanks for sharing with us!
This is an interesting finding!! If we continue to explore alternate ways to generate energy, i think we would be able to meet the increasing demands of energy. I think even India should encourage young students and scientists to carry out researches like this because this would not only pave way for new technologies, but also boost the economic, educational and institutional strength of our nation.
I have heard about this before but did not knew that it actually works. Electricity is the main problem that are faced by the people these days especially in summer season as the consumption is quite high. If this can be done then the problem could be solved to a great extent. but lets see how far it can make a mark!
Electricity is a big problem in India especially faced by the cities as the population of cities are more in comparison to that of villages and because of this there is high consumption of electricity and this is leading to crisis in water supply. It is a great news that electricity can be produced even from trees. This will to a certain extent solve the problem of electricity that India is facing today.
Thanks for the Infor. We should use this trick to generate electricity. This information is wonder. This is useful for ruler area where till electronic is not provided.
Power crisis is increasing in the nation and it is due to urbanization. People are migrating from rural areas to Urban areas in search of jobs and other career opportunities. This increase in urban population is leading to excess use of electricity and this is leading to immense power crisis. India needs to think of some alternative means to generate power and by generating electricity from tree can prove to be a great alternative and solve the problem of power crisis to a great extent.
