Breakthrough in Electricity-Producing Microbe

University of Massachusetts researchers have made a breakthrough with "Geobacter," a microbe that produces electric current from mud and wastewater. A conservative estimate puts the energy output increase at eight times that of the original organism, potentially allowing applications far beyond that of extracting electricity from mud. "Now, planning can move forward to design microbial fuel cells that convert waste water and renewable biomass to electricity, treat a single home's waste while producing localized power (especially attractive in developing countries), power mobile electronics, vehicles and implanted medical devices, and drive bioremediation of contaminated environments."

If it could purify

[Coldeagle]

I'm curious if they might be able to combine this with another microbe or filtering system that would enable it to purify the water too. If they could, you could get an almost closed water system thus solving a lot of the water issues across the US. Or if it could desalinate water while producing power :)

Re:If it could purify

[rezalas]

A good combo for space shuttles and stations.

Re:I, for one...

[JordanL]

You bring up a good point. This technology simply liberates the stored energy in feces, which is itself processed from the stored energy in plants.

I'm always amazed at how little variation there really is in energy production. Really there are only two sources of energy here on earth:

-Solar
-Nuclear

Even geothermal is powered by the heat of the earth's core, which is itself powered by radioactivity. (I guess one could argue that the radioactive elements were formed in a star, making them solar as well, but that's a bit too far for me.)

Talk about the future..

[Carpeaux]

Every now and then we read about some new energy producing mean, it just makes me wonder... Can anyone even begin to imagine what would a society based on these technologies look like? They are very diverse and seem to cover ever encreasing aspects of our lives. Each one could take care of a bit of our smaller needs and nuclear energy could be the only massive one, providing for larger needs in a world with ever more energy-efficient technologies. What if through technology we can reach a society with no more big energy concerns, just by sort of cutting the sharp edges of our wastes? Anyone knows some hard science fiction dealing with this kind of society?

This is no joke!

[yog]

If this microbe escaped from the lab, we'd all be in trouble. Can you imagine the headlines we'd start to see all over the world?

- Man electrocuted on toilet

- Tip for rainy weather: wear well-insulated boots when walking in mud

- Tomato fields plagued by ball lightning after manure fertilization

- In the 3rd world, muddy unpaved roads power electric scooters

The idea of dipping my iPhone into the nearest bucket of shit sickens me, and yet this may become the favored means of charging one's phone in a hurry.

I suppose a welcome next step will be a second microbe that neutralizes the stench.

Re:Not So Fast

[Spy der Mann]

I'm wondering what would happen to compost heaps after some time with this bacteria. Will they be still useful for growing plants with them, or will they become "de-energized"?

Re:More efficient adaptation, but...

[Belial6]

The same thing that prevents house dogs from evolving back to wolves, and farm turkeys from evolving smaller breasts.

Re:I, for one...

[TTURabble]

Well if you broke it down completely, energy is never created or destroyed, it only changes states. So all the energy that will ever exist was created at the beginning of the universe and is simply stored in different states.

And all energy is atomic energy, the difference comes in how we decide to extract that energy.

Re:Not So Fast

[wonkavader]

Ooooh. Interesting question! It binds iron and other metals, so that might make them more digestible, or less. Truely unclear.

Re:I, for one...

[Hortensia Patel]

Tidal?