Emily Conover. (2016). Mini ‘wind farm’ could capture energy from microbes in motion. Retrieved from https://www.sciencenews.org/article/mini-%E2%80%98wind-farm %E2%80%99-could-capture-energy-microbes-motion on September 3, 2016.
A device that is much similar to wind energy, but smaller, has been created for power. Instead of harnessing the wind, miniscule rotors rotate in liquid when bacteria swarms around them. This process makes significantly less power than wind turbines, but is much smaller also, allowing for the possibility of the technology to be used in electronic devices.
This article relates to environmental science because the bacteria in the liquid would be easy to replicate, and the rotors could be continuously used (the process could be done with the same liquid and rotors over and over again). I think this is a very innovative idea, but might be tough to actually use on a large scale, especially since so far this process has only been simulated on a computer.
This is really cool! Although it is small, it definitely seems like it won’t require that much power? Are there any inventions in the making that would generate more power though?
I wonder if this technology could be implemented into polluted waters filled with bacteria, it could turn one bad thing into a good thing. The pollution could be used to generate energy.
I think this is cool that a smaller device can be used for power. But is it really a useful device if it cannot produce as much power? That just means you need more of them, so technically this looks pointless.