Dutch Company Powers Streetlights and Phones With Living Plants
Dutch Company Powers Streetlights and Phones With Living Plants.
Please don't bring politics or religion into the discussion...Thank you! 
In November, more than 300 LED lights were illuminated by a Dutch company that makes electricity from harnessing the power of living plants.
This was the first commercial installation for Plant-e, a company that also sells mobile chargers, and rooftop electricity modules fueled by the byproduct of photosynthesis in plants.
Plant-es co-founder and CEO, Marjolein Helder, believes that this technology could be revolutionary, especially if implemented on a larger scale. Capturing the energy in wetlands and rice paddies could bring power to some of the worlds poorest places.
Heres how Plant-e says it works:
Via photosynthesis a plant produces organic matter. Part of this organic matter is used for plant-growth, but a large part cant be used by the plant and is excreted into the soil via the roots. Around the roots naturally occurring micro-organisms break down the organic compounds to gain energy from. In this process, electrons are released as a waste product. By providing an electrode for the micro-organisms to donate their electrons to, the electrons can be harvested as electricity. Research has shown that plant-growth isnt compromised by harvesting electricity, so plants keep on growing while electricity is concurrently produced.
http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/dutch-company-powers-streetlights-phones-with-living-plants/
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The company founders also envision a world where people can use their lawn or garden to charge their electric vehicles. That would be awesome!
Very cool. I have never heard of such a thing. I linked through a few sites, looking for an estimation of potential output, but didn't find anything comprehensible to a non-electrician.
I hope we get updates.
I hope we get updates. So do I. What will they think of next??