After years and years of us hating on algae we might start liking it again. We say this because researchers at Stanford University are generating electrical current by hooking into the electron activity of individual algae cells. Or in WonHyoung Ry words: “We were dealing with single cells to prove we can harvest the electrons.” We should point out however, that the amount of electrity that is being “harvested” is minuscule or for one each cell just a picoampere. What is a picoampere? “An amount of electricity so tiny that they would need a trillion cells photosynthesizing for one hour just to equal the amount of energy stored in a AA battery.” Before you start making an large alage pool you might want to keep that in mind, ok? Now, does anyone know of any reputiable pool builders in the Chicago region? We need to generate quite a few of these picoamperes for Reef Builders HQ.
via [Stanford]
