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By Desiree Rose & Skip Laitner
What if… we could harness the mechanical vibrations of everyday objects we interact with and turn them into electrical energy? What if the fibers moving around in the pockets of our favorite shirts and pants could charge our cell phones while wearing them, or the motor mounts in our cars were also energy-reaping shock absorbers that re-charged the car battery while also powering other devices?
Broadly speaking, energy harvesting is a process that transforms ambient energy in the environment all around us and converts it into electrical energy that can power electronic devices or circuits. It is formally defined as “a process wherein the sources such as mechanical load, vibrations, temperature gradients and light, etc., are scavenged and converted to obtain relatively small levels of power.” And with emerging techniques and technologies, those small levels of power today can go big tomorrow.
In the U.S., the majority of energy produced comes from fossil fuels, including coal and natural gas. In both the creation and output of energy, there is a huge amount that is lost in the process.. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), for example, 65 percent of the energy needed to generate electricity in the United States is lost, primarily as heat, greenhouse gases and air pollution. What we waste just in the production and distribution of energy, roughly 1.2 billion tons of coal equivalent, is more than Japan uses to power its entire economy!
Rather than mining coal and uranium, or drilling for oil and gas, harvesting energy directly from the ambient environment around us can greatly increase the overall productivity of both the U.S. and the global economies. First, energy harvesting technologies will likely enable greater energy-use energy efficiency in our various devices and technologies. Second, as we bypass conventional steam-generation technologies we are reducing the scale of primary energy necessary to produce a kilowatt-hour of electricity. In other words, we are eliminating a significant amount of wasted energy as discussed above. And finally, as energy harvesting techniques are directly embedded as part of devices and technologies, the among of materials necessary to provide energy services are also reduced. This can also lower the cost of energy systems as more devices provide their own power.
Below are just a few articles highlighting interesting examples of technologies being developed using energy harvesting techniques:
Science News for Students, January 2021
Imagine never having to worry about your phone’s battery when you’re on the go. A new technology might someday allow the fabric in your clothes to charge it. These piezoelectric materials turn their movements into electricity. Read more.
New Atlas, March 2021
When it comes to renewable energy, many cities combine multiple sources, such as solar panels and wind turbines. Scientists have now taken a similar approach with a “smart” shirt that generates electricity via both sweat and movement. Read more.
ONiO, March 2021
We’ve seen in recent posts how energy harvesting technologies are spelling hope for a more sustainable and ecological future. Energy harvesting has gone from strength to strength in recent years – Today, energy harvesting isn’t limited just to rf energy [radio frequency] and piezoelectric. Is it possible to harvest energy from a running motorcycle? Read more.
The Counter, March 2021
Agrivoltaics—putting solar panels on farmland—lead to astonishing productivity gains and improved energy efficiency. Except when they don’t. Read more.
Discover, August 2019
By harvesting the everyday energy of static electricity, scientists may have found the world’s most plentiful source of renewable, sustainable power. Read more.
By developing technologies that scavenge the energy found in the ambient environment – namely through light, heat, radio waves, vibration and movement – and then harvesting it into electricity, scientists around the world are on the brink of unlocking potential sources of power that could go a long way towards increasing the nation’s overall economic productivity while reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. In the last few years, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of projects in both universities and the private sector that are focused on developing new and more powerful energy harvesting technologies. While many of these technologies are in the research and development stages and are a long way from being released onto the market, the possibilities of what our future energy mix might look like with the help of energy harvesting innovations is nothing, if not intriguing.
Related: Economic & Human Dimensions Research Associates Founder, Skip Laitner, recently gave a virtual lecture in collaboration with Fiske Planetarium at the University of Colorado, Boulder on this very topic for Earth Day 2021. You can watch the full presentation below.
There is neither a law of physics nor economics that prevents us from quadrupling the productive use of energy and other resources. Rather, it is much more an issue of imagination and our political will to get it done.
– John A. “Skip” Laitner