Interesting development in renewable energy, courtesy of The Guardian: electricity from thin air, much as predicted by Nickoa Tesla almost a hundred years ago.
Well, actually, not so much thin air as thick, or more specifically, humid air. Discovered by happy accident at the University of Massachussetts Amherst, it seems that an array of microscopic tubes, or nanotubes, can generate a small but continuous electic current, as airborne water molecules bump around inside the tubes, creating a kind of small battery as one end of the tube becomes differently charged from the other.
The team is now experimenting with thin sheets of materials punched with tiny holes, or nanopores, sheets that can in principle be multiply stacked together. The Lisbon-based Catcher Project is also experimenting with the idea, establishing a start-up to try and make the technology commercially feasible.
I'm not saying that this will become the energy source of tomorrow, but it may become yet another string to our bow, which is all to the good.
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