Dirty Batteries

[Nish]

This is a cool idea. Low power, "dirt" based battery that lasts "forever"

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-develop-new-dirt-powered-fuel-cell-that-runs-forever/

[Walker]

Cool... But I'd be more interested in the tech that allows them to see the future to determine that it "runs forever".....

[tyronejk]

The tech in the article describes a fuel cell that can potentially last forever*. Which could be made into a battery, but that would not last forever, since the dirt and microbes inside are isolated. Also I wonder if the "forever" part assumes this device doesn't eventually kill all of the microbes in its immediate vicinity, costing it its power source. But maybe at a slow enough rate, these microbes will be replenished/consumed by other microbes and sustain itself.

[Nish]

They do actual indicat their definition of "forever" in the article.

[glaman5266]

I like seeing stuff like this. Agriculture is pretty much the largest industry around me. Just sent this to my wife, who runs the office for the family farm. Curious to see what she thinks of it.

[Chuck E Ducky]

Wonder if it can be supercharged by adding more microbes that could be farmed. That pretty cool tec!

[scottieb]

For as long as I can remember I've thought things need to be more energy efficient, or use only small amounts of energy. We have less to worry about environmental issues, scarcity of resources, lack of productivity, etc. This battery sounds great. Now to set about creating more real world uses for it.

[SignOfZeta]

This is basically a potato battery except not as powerful. There aren’t many chips or load devices of any kind out there that will run off 700mV so what meaningful work could be done has to be thought of first…you need twice that just to blink an LED. Maybe a microbe powered Game & Watch? With no sound of course…

Instead of farmers changing batteries now they can change dirt, not such a huge improvement really.

As an article though I do have to say it’s a lot more realistic than the usual endless river of crap promising that paradigm shifting, carbon zero, ultra cheap infinite power technology is just around the corner. That’s become an entire industry…being relentlessly positive about technobabble. At least this article links to the source document which contains all the depressing boring real stuff.

[Lonniereinger78]

I enjoy seeing things like this. Agriculture is essentially the biggest industry in my vicinity. I just shared this worthless link with my wife, who manages the office for our family farm. I'm curious to hear her thoughts on it.

[Nish]

I see you.

[William the Third]

[Nish]

I like seeing stuff like this. Agriculture is pretty much the largest industry around me. Just sent this to my wife, who runs the office for the family farm. Curious to see what she thinks of it.

Like there's an echo in here or something.

[glaman5266]

Yeah, what the fruit?

[Nish]

I suspect the worst, but am hoping I'm wrong.

[martix_agent]

I like seeing stuff like this. Agriculture is pretty much the largest industry around me. Just sent this to my wife, who runs the office for the family farm. Curious to see what she thinks of it.

unfortunately if it's anything like the farmers around me it's something new and that makes it horrifying and scary. They'll start campaigns against it, make up lies, and listen to politicians on how they're supposed to think about it.

[Chuck E Ducky]

People who are self sufficient don’t like to be told what to do. Traditions die hard. Always two sides of the coin. It’s important to remember to be weary of ideology, regardless of who’s pushing it.

[glaman5266]

What Chuck said.

And often times there are very good reasons for using older methods. But yeah, there are times to consider & implement new things. It’s a tough balance at times.

[Nish]

I think it's a really neat idea and applaud the out of the box thinking to find a product that could be better.

As mentioned therecwill be some that don't want to try it. In my experience growing up in a rural area the key to getting the farmers I knew to try it would be to sell them on what it can do for them, and it's longevity/reliability.

In general people will try things that will make something better for them a lot quicker than they will try something just because someone they don't know tells them they have to.

[Tarsun2]

whats the output?
I could only find where it talks about powering a little sensor but could not find mV or mA output. im assuming its incredibly low.

[SignOfZeta]

whats the output?
I could only find where it talks about powering a little sensor but could not find mV or mA output. im assuming it’s incredibly low.

The linked document has some figures. The 700mV I quoted was probably the most impressive. Total power is in micro watts in all their charts.

[Tarsun2]

ah, ok. that makes sense.
i really dont like these kinds of articles for this reason.

it makes it seem like well be powering our homes with this method when in all actuality, that couldn't be further from the truth.