Sunday, September 30, 2007

Electric Microbes

I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's all about power; power generation, power transmission, power storage and power consumption. The most useful form of power in our modern electronic world is electricity, it can drive technologies that move us, assist us, inform us and ultimately protect us. With such a bright future for electricity shouldn't we be laser focused on finding better ways to generate it.

A couple of years ago I read an article about a naturally occurring bacteria that produced electricity by eating pollution. Given the modern energy and pollution situation, it seemed like a potentially important new avenue for energy research. Since that initial article I have seen a few follow-up articles, like this R&D one on bacteria based fuel cells, but nothing about the commercialization of the science. Even if they haven't been productized yet, the approach probably will eventually get to the commercial markets (kidding aside, products like mud batteries could give another revenue stream to chicken and pig farmers as they sell power to the grid while detoxifying all that waste).

Of further interest is the recent discovery of other bacteria, at Yellowstone National Park, that convert light to electricity. Using photosynthesis to create electricity, these bacteria are sure to become an important research and discovery tool.

For the future, all of these bacterial generators could become important for energy independence, not just national independence, but personal independence as well. With the prospect of inexpensive alternative energy generation from sunlight, waste disposal and other readily available sources, along with intelligent power storage systems, shouldn't we expect to someday generate enough energy for our own individual needs? If not completely then what about partially?

With so much attention dedicated to research on batteries, power management and alternate power sources shouldn't there be some system thinking going on that would bring it all together? How about self-contained on-site power systems for our homes? If Apple produced one it could be called iPower and it would be launched with a very hip and expensive ad campaign. As for me, I’ll be waiting in line on launch day.

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