Self-powered hydrogen generation from bacteria

[phildonnia]

Ok, so it ultimately runs on fresh water. Glad to hear we have an energy supply that uses an inexhaustible, infinite source.

 

[Buckaroo]

Cool. During my days at the NSF back in 2004 I was involved in a similar story, also with Bruce Logan as an investigator: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=100337

 

[nvidiot]

Ok, so it ultimately runs on fresh water. Glad to hear we have an energy supply that uses an inexhaustible, infinite source.

There is substantial amounts of energy available in salinity gradients, the trick is how to liberate it. This appears to be a substantial improvement in efficiency, which will likely spur more investment and development, and hopefully more efficiency and so on.

BenBurch

Ah, OK. That is a very limited resource, believe it or not. You might think that well, there is a lot of crap in the world, but when you look at the energy content of a city's sewage, it does not amount to much in terms of the energy the city uses.

City sewages wouldn't be the only domestic source, farm wastes, household organic wastes, heck all kinds of organic material is wasted by human civilisation and would be relatively easy to recover if sufficiently valued. I'm sure they'll expand potential biological agents using all kinds of neat byproducts as nutrient sources. Genetic engineering could provide some novel solutions too.

This is not the solution to our energy issues, and won't be for decades even if it can be appropriately scaled for large loads. That said, we could be looking at a large and untapped energy source and given the situation humanity finds itself in, it would be quite wise to invest in such ideas.

 

[phildonnia]

There is substantial amounts of energy available in salinity gradients, the trick is how to liberate it. This appears to be a substantial improvement in efficiency, which will likely spur more investment and development, and hopefully more efficiency and so on.

Don't get me wrong; I'm glad to hear that there is another source of energy that we can add to the mix in the future. We should be cautious not to assume that the magic bullet for our increasing energy demands has been found.

 

[CORed]

Ah, OK. That is a very limited resource, believe it or not. You might think that well, there is a lot of crap in the world, but when you look at the energy content of a city's sewage, it does not amount to much in terms of the energy the city uses.

A lot of sewage plants capture methane produced by anaerobic digesters and use it to power generators. In most cases, I don't believe this produces as much energy as the sewage plant uses.

 

[aggle-rithm]

I, for one, welcome our new hydrogen-producing bacteria overlords.