Electrical device plugs directly into trees for power
Researchers have discovered that there's enough power in living trees to run an electric circuit.
By Bryan NelsonThu, Sep 10 2009 at 8:32 AM EST
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TREE POWER: Engineers Babak Parviz and Brian Otis demonstrate with students how a device can be plugged into a tree for power. (Photo: University of Washington) In today's world of high-tech portable gadgets, iPods and cell phones, we've become dependent upon readily accessible electric outlets to power our devices and charge our batteries. But now researchers at the University of Washington have discovered nature's alternative to the power outlet: living trees.
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The research was based upon a breakthrough study last year out of MIT, when scientists found that plants generate a voltage of up to 200 millivolts when one electrode is placed in a plant and the other in the surrounding soil. Those researchers are already designing devices which act as forest sensors powered entirely by this new method. But until now, no one has applied these findings to the development of tree power.
It all began last summer with UW undergraduate student Carlton Himes (also the study's co-author). He spent his summer wandering around the woods surrounding campus, hooking nails to bigleaf maple trees and connecting them to his voltmeter. Sure enough, the trees registered a steady voltage of up to a few hundred millivolts.
The next step for the UW team was to build a circuit to run on the available tree power. Because the voltage generated by the trees can be so small, the resulting device -- a boost converter -- was specialized to take input voltages of as little as 20 millivolts to be stored to produce greater output. The device's produced output voltage ended up being 1.1 volts, which is enough to run low-power sensors.
Of course, the researchers were quick to point out that the technology is still a long way off from being able to power normal electronics. "Normal electronics are not going to run on the types of voltages and currents that we get out of a tree," Parviz said.
At the very least, these findings open the door for new generations of electronics which might eventually be efficient enough to take advantage of tree power. It certainly excites the imagination. Maybe in time we'll be witness to weekend picnickers lounging in local parks with their iPods and cell phones plugged into the surrounding foliage.
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Comments
FoolKiller
04/15/2011 17:13 PM
What effect would putting the trees "in series" to get a greater voltage have on the circuit (and on the trees)?
Gareth Amon
02/10/2011 08:50 AM
We dont Poke and Prod trees at www.FreeRecyclingQuotes.com we help save them by recycling paper
Myrrdin
02/09/2011 08:10 AM
I wonder if there is a relationship between the tree output and the state ofr health, age, or species of tree.
Jabieko from the Homunculus Nebula.
02/08/2011 14:03 PM
It is about time you silly earthlings learned to harness your planet's power! We are constantly fighting light years above your planet, to gain ownership of your planet. You sit on a gold mine, but yet all you care about is some Bieber kid! He is as useless as solar power. Forget the sun, and grab a tree! Here is a little tip for your future findings, forget trees and move onto planets surrounding you. Mars for instance, has been known to carry enough power in their Gibogrious Stones to power.... More
Martyr
02/06/2011 04:28 AM
I wonder if raising or lowering PH level in soil has an effect? Like maybe trees that grow in acidic soil would have a solution. hmm
Martyr
02/06/2011 04:18 AM
WOW eventually they will figure out that different trees and soil composition give off more electricity.
adrianazee
03/29/2010 18:46 PM
WOW! I was working on this idea too. I am not an electrician major nor engineer. However, I have many ideas and like to test them. I believe if we can put nature and electronics together we will be much greener and happier.
Hugh
11/06/2009 10:57 AM
The truth is revealed, the tree huggers have been getting a buzz to power their weak brains all this time
Ron Adersen
10/04/2009 13:39 PM
I think it is something to look into - We may be able to do alot with it.
Felonia
09/21/2009 01:52 AM
Nice try, scientists. You'll never make the hippies happy!! lol. It's true, it's always something.
Joe
09/17/2009 23:18 PM
Reminds me of idiocracy, where when asked why people are watering their fields with Gatorade they replied "It has electrolites!".
Cheeto the Lion
09/13/2009 20:04 PM
Yea, as a boy scout we learned all about the Current bush we could plug into for emergency power. Right up there with Snipe hunting and Submarine watching.
Anonymous
09/13/2009 20:02 PM
Ever heard of Nikola Tesla? All living things, including us, have electrical pulses that run through them. The earth has all we need. So, why is it the 'researchers' are just now getting around to 'discovering' this?
Anonymous
09/11/2009 23:00 PM
let science explore for the sake of pure knowledge. Who knows where it will lead. We cannot speculate of the outcome because we risk sounding dumb like the guy that said that there is a worldwide need for perhaps two or three personal computers. You all know who he was.
Michael
09/11/2009 21:25 PM
I've made batteries out of coins: take a nickel, place a small piece of paper towel on it, a drop of salt water on the paper towel, then a penny (well, really any two different coins, but penny and nickel work well). Touch your voltmeter, one probe to nickel, one to penny, and viola -- you have electricity! Not only that, it is easy to stack for more voltage: nickel, saltwater, penny, nickel, saltwater, penny; repeat. Tree power isn't all that unexpected or impressive.
To the writer.... More
Isaac
09/11/2009 17:16 PM
If the equipment scientists use to monitor the forests never has to have its battery changed, they can study more remote wilderness for longer duration. Sounds like a viable option to me.
Anonymous
09/11/2009 14:18 PM
Is this really 'electrical power' or is it a chemical reaction between the electrodes and the sap of the tree? If it is just a chemical reaction, it is only temporary and may poison the tree. If it is real 'power' what is the effect on the tree? I am sure it cannot provide power without damage to itself.
Cody
09/11/2009 12:11 PM
To all those who post, naysayers and supporters alike, mostly the naysayers though. I have one word RESEARCH. If this really would cause damage to trees I am sure they would figure it out and thus probably not be used. And you say it is pointless and sounds like you think it will not lead to anything, how can you prove it? Can you really say with 100% certainty that we can not make anything of this. ........ If you really think that, get off the interwebs..... any chance of a renewable.... More
Anonymous
09/11/2009 04:36 AM
Perhaps this all boils down to someone needing to produce some kind of output information due to receiving Grant money from the Government.
As a professional in the "electrical and electronics" industry, I can tell you that this isn't even worth the time it took to read it. There are many ways to produce the same or better results without even involving a tree.
Zoob
09/11/2009 03:04 AM
Assuming 25 millivolts per tree, a typical 110v - 120v system would require you tap into nearly 500 trees. The article doesn't even mention the kind of amps you can get out of one of these circuits. If the amperage is really tiny, then even tapping into these 500 trees could give you essentially Zero Watts (also read as No Power). And don't even get me started on the impracticality of setting up or maintaining the infrastructure for this system. Just an FYI! Interesting - YES. Practical.... More
G.P.Vijaya kumar,Bangalore
10/23/2009 11:37 AM
we have tested in our polytechnic ,we get around 500millivolts from ashoka tree with dissimilar electrodes.voltage varies from tree to tree .
Anonymous
09/11/2009 03:20 AM
Agreed.. Pretty impractical overall. Passively collecting plentiful energy from the sun (that would have been lost otherwise) using increasingly efficient technologies seems uhh.. way more straightforward than some nature-stealing/imbalancing scheme.
Anonynous
09/11/2009 02:52 AM
You simply can't get more than you take from nature. The law of conservation of energy states that the total amount of energy in a closed system remains constant. Sap power from plants for example, and there will be some negative consequence to offset the effort. You cant just "plug into plants" and expect all other variables remain the same. You always 'lose' something...
Simply put, charge your iPod and kill a plant.. or fifty...
The article (sans the poorly informed last.... More
I.Dickenson
03/03/2010 08:36 AM
Well said Anonymous! This just proves how little we understand! Everyone will jump on the `green' bandwagon to save energy and kill Nature instead. So the plan is to charge up your ipod and sap energy from the tree and then in turn kill the tree with the energy produced from the ipod?? Great thinking! There is already plenty of scientific research into damage to trees from electrosmog listed at www.bemri.org under Biological Effects of Non Inonising Electromagnetic.... More
Anonymous
09/11/2009 02:02 AM
The electricity does NOT come from the tree - it comes from the metal in the electrodes. The metal oxidizes and in the process releases energy. The tree does nothing.
Anonymous
09/11/2009 01:49 AM
Consider this: The computer you use to type your narrow minded tree hugging ideas is being powered by some sort of fossil fuel or if you are lucky enough to be on some grid that makes up less than 1% of this nations power, well good for you. It still took a substantial amount of fossil fuel to create your PC and to build and maintain your alternative energy source. The way I figure it you are more a problem than i am. I am not in denial. The way I see it, any advancement towards.... More
Anonymous
09/11/2009 01:43 AM
This isn't revolutionary in the slightest. Put two pipes a meter or so apart, of differing electronegativity (say, copper and steel, look it up for better combos) and voltage will appear. Often in the range quoted, or higher. In fact, one doesn't have to put one end in a tree even. Maybe the amperage is a bit better when a tree is involved, who knows -- but it's probably bad for the tree in the long term if so.
Anonymous
09/11/2009 00:35 AM
If we give the trees more electricity they should grow even better! Just look at all the big trees that lightning strikes have made. We must continue this faulty flow of logic...What a bunch of tree huging weirdos.
Anonymous
09/11/2009 01:58 AM
I think your comment is actually getting stupider as it sits here on my screen.
Anonymous
09/11/2009 02:00 AM
If you're going to put a reply button under a comment, then stick the comment at the top of the list, then it's not a reply now is it? Now you've got one comment that's off-topic and bitchy and another comment that makes no contextual sense, all because you put 'reply' where it should not have been.
mike
09/11/2009 00:31 AM
Here in Canada there are many trees... They are fairly tough to.. when the temperature even dips past -40, they somehow manage to bounce back next spring . I highly doubt that a small ***** in the in the side of a sizable trunk would have any ill effects (just ask Pamela Anderson). If we can harness this truly green energy, it would be great for all of us. Or we could shread the trees into pellets to make energy once all the coal is gone... just think of the power in a whole forest.
anonymous
09/11/2009 00:24 AM
Of course electrolytes produce electricity, but this is in the soil. soil isn't electrolytic, is it? Anyway, this is really cool. Talk about green energy! Maybe this will encourage more parks and forests to be preserved, even if only to plug electrodes into them for power. And if the tree needs the power, why didn't it evolve some way to insulate that power from the ground? And there are bigger applications to this then charging a cell phone. If they can find a way to get a higher voltage, or.... More
John Woods
09/11/2009 00:10 AM
Dude, now that is some seriously cool stuff!
Jeremy
09/10/2009 23:54 PM
It's bad enough these days with people throwing trash all over - but we do NOT need people to start poking holes in our trees.
Axel in Montreal
09/10/2009 21:17 PM
At least it is not the discovery, again, of perpetual motion. This phenomenon appears periodically with a kid getting a voltage out of a lemon or a potato. The simple explanation is IT'S A BATTERY! A one-cell battery connecting two dissimilar conductors across an electrolyte will do this all the time.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanic_cell in.... More
Jenny
09/10/2009 20:10 PM
Shouldn't we stop to consider the consequences of tapping this source of power? What if the tree needs that energy? Draining it might harm or kill the tree. Not only that, but isn't the whole point of going to parks and wilderness areas to get away from electronic devices? If you want to keep your cell phone plugged in, don't go camping!
Anonymous
09/11/2009 03:01 AM
Agreed... And given that trees produce oxygen, what do we do if we kill off large tree populations by tapping them as a source of energy. Do we really have to continue sucking up resources from ecosystems around us?
