Renewable Energy Captured From Bacterial Spores' Response to Humidity

March 31, 2014- A novel source of renewable energy has made news, and its developers imagine a world with "electrical generators driven by changes in humidity from sun-warmed ponds and harbors."

In an article titled "Getting A Charge From Changes In Humidity," published on their website, scientists at the Wyss Institute of Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University have announced the development of prototype electrical generators that harness evaporating water to generate power by using bacterial spores.

Here are some highlights of the Institute's announcement:


• The prototype generators work by taking advantage of the properties of the spores in the presence of humidity; each spore bends when it dries out, and straightens when the humidity rises. This bending back and forth means that spore-coated sheets may become actuators driving movement, which can be converted into electricity.


• Ozgur Sahin, Ph.D. and his research team studied how spores quickly restore their shape when they take on water. Because they shrink reversibly, they have to be storing energy. It is this energy that is used to create mechanical energy when the spores are applied to surfaces.

• The researchers found that the spore-coated planks generated at least 10 times as much force as other materials commonly used to build actuators. Although the prototype captures a small percentage of the energy released by evaporation, the researchers will look to genetically engineer stiffer and more elastic spores.

"Solar and wind energy fluctuate dramatically when the sun doesn't shine or the wind doesn't blow, and we have no good way of storing enough of it to supply the grid for long," said Wyss Institute Founding Director Don Ingber, M.D., Ph.D. in concluding the announcement. "If changes in humidity could be harnessed to generate electricity night and day using a scaled up version of this new generator, it could provide the world with a desperately needed new source of renewable energy."

Read the full Wyss Institute post here.

Carnow Conibear and Associates is a demonstrated leader in the occupational and environmental health professions since 1975. To find out more, click here or call us at (800) 860-4486.