A power source has been developed by an MIT student using the difference in pH between the trees and the ground to power a wireless network.
The US Forest Service has been trialling this technology to track weather conditions, particularly during fire season. The service currently predicts and tracks fires using a variety of tools, which are expensive and sparsely distributed.
The Voltree Power system uses the trees as a self-sustaining power supply. Each sensor is equipped with a battery that can be slowly recharged using energy generated by the tree. The system produces enough electricity to allow temperature and humidity sensors to wirelessly transmit signals four times a day or immediately if there is a fire. Signals hop from one sensor to another until it reaches an existing weather station that beams the data by satellite to a forestry command centre in Boise, Idaho.
The inventor of the process Christopher Love, is currently a senor at MIT, majoring in Chemistry.
Who knows, maybe in a few years we’ll be able to use this tech to power our laptops with energy generated from our potplants.
The US Forest Service has been trialling this technology to track weather conditions, particularly during fire season. The service currently predicts and tracks fires using a variety of tools, which are expensive and sparsely distributed.
The Voltree Power system uses the trees as a self-sustaining power supply. Each sensor is equipped with a battery that can be slowly recharged using energy generated by the tree. The system produces enough electricity to allow temperature and humidity sensors to wirelessly transmit signals four times a day or immediately if there is a fire. Signals hop from one sensor to another until it reaches an existing weather station that beams the data by satellite to a forestry command centre in Boise, Idaho.
The inventor of the process Christopher Love, is currently a senor at MIT, majoring in Chemistry.
Who knows, maybe in a few years we’ll be able to use this tech to power our laptops with energy generated from our potplants.
- added October 13, 2008
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That's awesome!! Power from trees, who'd have thunk it?
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or maybe we can just plug into trees since they convert sunlight into energy.
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This is much better than that damn artificial tree idea...
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- krush_producions
- 3 months ago
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Thank you for your efforts Mr. Love
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Trees are useful? Whatever next!
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- dirtyemowords
- 3 months ago
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thats cool we can get power from trees
thats great-
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- Brianayeah1
- 3 months ago
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so much the world offers in so many ways excellent well done mr love well done
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- peregrinfalcon
- 3 months ago
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Let's hope MIT publish the technology as Open Source.
Add a public wireless mesh network for a totally free Internet with zero greenhouse impact.
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Zero greenhouse impact AND zero corporate or government control!
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- uppityprogressive
- 3 months ago
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