An Alternative Energy Source: Raindrops
In France, scientists have been able to produce electrical power from raindrops. They found that the impact of raindrops from the sky is enough to be used for an alternative power source.
During their experiments, raindrops generated between 1 nanojoule and 25 microjoules of energy per drop, depending on the size of the drop. Drizzle droplets, which are about 1 millimeter in diameter, each have an impact energy of about 2 microjoules. Heavy rain can produce 5 millimeter droplets which have an impact energy of about 1 millijoule each.
Jean-Jacques Chaillout, who led the research team, told New Scientist:
“We thought of raindrops because they are one of the still-unexploited energy sources in nature.“
Although the energy produced is very small, there are plenty of potential uses for this energy source. Self-powered sensors is one avenue that could be explored. Peter Tavner, head of engineering at Durham University in the UK said:
“Environmental sensors that ’scavenge’ their own energy make good sense, we use far too much energy in simply exchanging information between devices. I think self-powering them is the future.“
It’s good to see another breakthrough in alternative energy sources, even if the power generation isn’t large. For every self-powered device, that’s less energy that needs to come from somewhere else.
Source: New Scientist
Tags: alternative energy, raindrops, Sustainability
