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Posted Mon Mar 3 2014: from
Yale360:
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In a Host of Small Sources, Scientists See Energy Windfall http://apocadocs.com/s.pl?1393812581
Computers feasting on their own exhaust heat. Super-efficient solar panels snaring lost thermal energy and recycling it into electricity. Personal electronics powered by stray microwaves or vibration-capturing clothing. Cellphones charged with a user's footsteps. These and more innovations may be possible with free, green energy that is now going to waste.
Ubiquitous sources like radio waves, vibration and pressure created by moving objects, heat radiating from machines and even our bodies -- all
have the potential to produce usable electric power. Until
recently, ambient energy was largely squandered because of a lack of ways to efficiently exploit it. Now, advances in materials and engineering are providing tools to harvest this abundant resource and transform it into cheap, clean electricity.
"This power is simply available and it's not doing anything right now, so it's truly being wasted," said Steven Cummer, a Duke University electrical and computer engineering professor working on harvesting ambient electromagnetic radiation to power electronic devices. "And as people think of useful things to do with it, then you're doing those things with available power instead of requiring new power."
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[Read more stories about:
efficiency increase, technical cleverness]
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