By: Ryan Keller

We live in a world full of many different energy resources. Some of these we’ve learned to capture by harnessing wind and light. The latter we call solar photovoltaics. But there are still many untapped forms of clean, renewable energy resources ready to be channeled in new ways to support our ever-changing energy needs. One such example is Energy Harvesting.

Children learn early how to transfer potential energy to kinetic energy by pushing a friend on a swing. This is an example of people creating their own energy. What may now be possible is capturing that potential energy through new techniques that it can be used in other productive ways. Strictly defined? Energy Harvesting is the gathering of ambient energy from our immediate environment—whether heat, light, pressure or vibrations—and then converting that ambient energy into electricity for immediate use; or perhaps stored, but for later use.

On the surface, it’s a very broad definition. But take the school swing as one example of transforming potential energy into kinetic energy; and now expand that to thinking of yourself as a “potential” power plant. Then recall all of the activities you do in any given day. You wake up, put your clothes on, drive to work, walk up stairs, and maybe go to the gym or a hike or jog. Imagine all of these activities that you do during the day as also doubling up as a means to produce useful energy. In other words, the energy you produce while completing your daily tasks can be captured, stored, and used for other power needs. This is energy harvesting.

If people can store and use the kinetic energy they create throughout their day, they become they become a mini power plant. Apply this more broadly and a population of several million—whether a state, a county, or the planet more broadly, are all producing clean, renewable energy! Potentially a few billion mobile power plants constantly producing energy 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

Now think about the house you’re living in, the car you drive, or the movie camera used to capture videos of your kids; basically, all the things you use each and every day. Now crank that up a notch. Allow the camera to be powered by the same light used to capture images. Add a thermoelectric generator to your car or heater, place a solar coating on your windows, and a motion generator in your backpack or your briefcase. All of these things that harvest energy as you walk or jog and go about your day.

Think about the sidewalk or hallways you walk through, collecting and producing electricity from your footsteps. Replace your plug-in router with one that runs off the power of radio waves. Now we’ve taken that few billion mobile power plants and turned them into perhaps hundreds of billions of mobile and stationary power plants.

With these innovations in mind, we are on the cusp of an energy revolution. We are in an age where science, technology, innovation, and ideas have converged to a point where they can evolve together. Not only can science, technology and routine behaviors evolve together, but they can also evolve in highly affordable ways. Energy harvesting can become a cost-effective, highly efficient energy production technology. The reason we don’t? We are simply unaware of the all the many opportunities to collect and store energy, all the while continuing with our normal lives.

Energy Harvesting is not limited only to individuals. In fact, there are many opportunities to collect and store energy that is already being produced. There’s room for our local, state, and federal governments to tap into this constant transfer of energy.

Here in the United States we are surrounded by water on half of our borders, with major ocean currents just a stone’s throw from the coast. That energy will never run out for as long as there is water on planet earth. The wind will never stop blowing and sun won’t stop shining anytime soon either. The key is to realize the opportunities right in front of us. What has always been right in front of us can now be utilized to capture and distribute more energy-efficient, clean, renewable energy.