Broadband and Me

Electricity from Water?

BBC NEWS | Technology | Water sparks new power source

What we have achieved so far is to show that electrical power can be directly generated from flowing liquids in microchannels," said Professor Larry Kostiuk from University of Alberta.

The team says its "electrokinetic" battery could be further developed to provide a clean, non-polluting power source that could eventually drive small devices such as mobile phones.

I am always impressed when something truely new is discovered. The team from Canada (great country!) have come up with something that could certainly power small devices. Exactly how big is a matter for conjecture according to this report from the Beeb, with some 'experts' suggesting that this discovery will only have an application at a nano-technology level.

Still it shows how inveetive as a species we are, and maybe we can use science in the right way to progress sensibly in tune with our environment. I hope that this is one of those discoveries which allows us to do that.