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Stuff.tv
3 days ago
- Science
- Stuff.tv
This whacky battery tech could be used in your future smart home gadgets
Despite people harping on about it (which does get rather annoying), we do need to find more sustainable energy sources. Solar, nuclear, wind, and the rest are great – all with their own benefits, uses, and disadvantages. But what about for smaller devices that don't need so much power – like your outdoor smart home lights? That's what Nova Innova is working on with its microbe-powered energy sources. The tech is still very much in its early days, but gives us a glimpse at what future smart home gadgets could look like. And there's potential for the tech to go much further. In fact, it's recently been used to light an entire Peugeot photo shoot. But how exactly does it all work? And where might you start to see it crop up in your life? Here's everything you need to know about this whacky battery tech. How does it work? The science behind this next-gen energy tech is something called a Plant Microbial Fuel Cell, or P-MFC, developed in collaboration between Nova Innova and Plant-e. Essentially, it turns the soil into a miniature all-natural power station. During photosynthesis, plants produce organic compounds. Some of these trickle out through the roots and into the soil, where hungry bacteria get to work. These microbes digest the compounds and, in the process, release electrons. Cleverly placed electrodes collect these electrons and, you've got a small but steady electric current. Play It doesn't harm the plants – they keep photosynthesising, blissfully unaware they've been conscripted into the power grid. In fact, the whole system is CO₂-negative because it locks in more carbon than it emits. There are even some tests to treat the soil to try and increase the number of microbes and therefore power. But it's still in its early days. Where might this tech be used? The Living Light Park shows this off in the most charmingly Dutch way possible. I recently went for a wander through the park in Rotterdam. It's a 35-metre boardwalk with embedded lights and sensors. As you stroll along, the sensors detect your movement, and the lights glow in response, all thanks to energy pulled from the plants beneath your feet. Local residents chose the plants, gave feedback on the lighting design, and helped shape a park that shows off the next-gen energy infrastructure. Nova Innova's vision stretches far beyond Rotterdam. This tech has powered everything from home decor – like the Living Light Lamp – to large-scale commercial events. For the launch of Peugeot's all-electric E-5008 SUV, the brand lit a photoshoot using 30 microbial fuel cells powered by a cocktail of plants, mud, water, and spent coffee grounds. And this is where the smart home angle starts to make sense. Imagine bedside lamps, wall sconces, or even motion-sensitive garden lights that don't sip electricity from the grid but pull it straight from your potted fern. It's not just a nod to the sustainable – it's a way of integrating sustainability into the fabric of your daily routine, without sacrificing function or style. Plus, since these devices would generate their own power, it lessens the strain on drawing from other sustainable energy sources. Beyond homes, there's talk of environmental sensors powered by marshlands, or emergency lighting in remote areas where running a power line would cost a fortune and then some. The tech is scalable, modular, and weirdly elegant. So yes, it may sound whacky. It kind of is. But it's also clever, green, and extremely fun.
Forbes
10-05-2025
- Automotive
- Forbes
Could Your Electric Vehicle Be Powered By Plants In The Future?
Peugeot used Nova Innova's plant-based power to light this night photoshoot. One of the more unusual news announcements in the last week was that the first photoshoot has taken place powered by plants, and it was of a Peugeot electric vehicle. In collaboration with innovative Dutch product design studio Nova Innova, Peugeot used a technology called a microbial fuel cell to power the lights for a photography session. The results are destined for an art exhibition in the Saatchi Gallery, London. I talked to founder Ermi van Oers how this technology works, and whether one day it could be charging the EVs themselves, not just a photoshoot's lights. 'I started Nova Innova seven years ago with the mission to combine nature, science and design,' says van Oers. 'We can collaborate with the intelligence of nature and instead of the industrial metal metabolism we design now, create a natural metabolism fulfilling our daily needs. I came across microbial fuel cell technology. This has existed for some time, but it always remained in small experiments and laboratories. I wondered how we could integrate that into our daily lives, because these microbes are not just living in water, but also in our organic waste in the soil of our plants. They live everywhere there is organic matter. I imagined a future where all these sources are connected to our homes. You don't check your fuse box anymore; you check how your plants are doing in your garden or if the lake is still healthy.' Everyday earth has the bacteria required for a microbial fuel cell. Microbial fuel cells harness a biproduct of a certain type of bacteria. 'As they break down organic matter these microbes produce electrons as a waste product,' says van Oers. 'When we eat food, we also produce energy, but we keep it ourselves to move and to have energy. But these electrogenic bacteria want to give their electrons away so they search for things to give them to. The microbial fuel cell provides that. It looks like a battery. It has an anode and a cathode. In between the anode and cathode is a membrane. The electrons go through the wires through our electronics, through our lights.' However, the power output from this system isn't huge. 'It produces just a little bit of electricity,' says van Oers. Each cell produces 100-300mW only. 'This needs to be matched to small power applications. We are harvesting milliwatts but if we develop the technology it can become more. You can compare it with a solar panel of 30 years ago which was very new, unknown and pricey. People asked why they should invest in solar because it's only a little energy, and you see where it is now. A microbial fuel cell doesn't work like a coal power station that can deliver the highest energy possible. It must always work in balance with nature. If not, the whole process stops. The first applications we make are with lights or other low power applications. What is impressive with this technology is that it is a CO2 negative energy source and very scalable because these microbes are everywhere around us. You can almost imagine that we will plant more forests or keep our lakes clean and healthy because it can become like a power plant.' The Peugeot photoshoot used 30 microbial fuel cells to generate electricity, with ten powered by organic waste from 11 plants, ten using a combination of 188 litres of mud and 94 litres of water, and ten by 60 litres of mud and two litres of used coffee grounds. This wasn't enough to power the lights directly. Instead, the power was used to charge batteries to run the lights. However, unlike solar or wind power, microbial fuel cells never stop generating electricity. 'The microbes are producing energy 24/7 because they don't sleep,' says van Oers. 'You don't have to add microbes or any nutrition. It's just a microbial fuel cell you place into the environment. Soil is full of organic matter, from the dead leaves or the insects living there. The whole ecosystem feeds itself and that makes it very robust. You only need water.' Nova Innova's first plant-powered system was an indoor light. Nova Innova's first product powered by a microbial fuel cell was home illumination called the Living Light Lamp. 'It's an indoor light powered by one plant,' says van Oers. After the Living Light Lamp won awards, she wondered whether this could scale up outdoors in public spaces. 'I thought, if it's possible with one plant, how would our city parks look with many plants? I started designing how this technology could be integrated and scaled, and how it could be affordable with sustainable materials, locally made and spread in our cities while also keeping the magic of the technology.' This led to a collaboration with the city of Rotterdam. 'We made the first version in 2019, then recently, we made the second version, Living Light Park 2.0,' says van Oers. Located in the Reyeroord district of Rotterdam-Zuid, Living Light Park 2.0 consists of a path through two beds filled with LED-lit 'flowers' that come alive in the dark and are triggered by pressure as people walk along the path. The microbial fuel cells sit in a nearby waterway, amongst aquatic grass, delivering the power. But van Oers sees a more ubiquitous future for microbial fuel cells. 'In the future, the plants in front of your window could be helping to power your home,' she says. They probably won't be sufficient to charge your electric car but they could be part of the mix. 'We need to change our mind that the energy transition is all about focusing on a couple of sources that have the highest kilowatt output. We must think about an ecosystem that works with many different sources, so it's resilient.' The Living Light Park 2.0 translates Nova Innova's plant power technology to a public space. 'We can use energy from microbes, plants, water, but also maybe our body heat, our movement, as well as from the wind and the sun,' says van Oers. 'There's an abundance of energy around. Your garden can be partly powering your home, a forest can power the village next door, or greenhouses can produce energy to grow their own plants inside and maybe have some energy left to provide to the village.' For Van Oers, the Peugeot photoshoot helps promote this vision of the future. 'With this collaboration with Peugeot, we can share this technology with a wider audience,' she says. 'It was a new development in this technology to charge bigger batteries for this project and share that this is possible. We forget about bacteria because we can't see them, but they're capable of this, making the invisible, visible.' The next step along the way will be floating microbial fuel cells used to monitor water quality. 'The Pond Project is all about giving water a voice,' says van Oers. 'We harvest energy from the microbes of the water, using the same technology as the Living Light Lamp but especially designed for water. We use this energy output to measure the water quality with different types of sensors every hour. We can send the data wirelessly to the water boards so they can react to climate disruptions. We also visualize that by floating lights that change color depending on the well-being of the water.' It might be a while before plants charge your EV entirely, but they could be part of your home ... More energy mix. 'A bonus effect of the microbial fuel cell technology is it reduces methane output, which is a 40% stronger greenhouse gas than CO2,' adds van Oers. 'But the primary role is to power sensors for assessing the water quality and visualizing it. We measure the pH, temperature, and oxygen. If we can add on machine learning, maybe we can predict blue algae is coming for example. We will put five new installations within the Netherlands of this system in the upcoming year and then develop these new technologies around it.' 'Next to that, we are also working to get this technology to more consumers and homes, so we're making indoor lights, which you can feed by organic matter,' says van Oers. 'With in-lite, an outdoor lighting company, we're designing lamps for gardens. Maybe you can use the waste of your kitchen to feed your light.' While it might be a while before there is enough energy output from this technology to charge your EV overnight, there's potential to contribute to our more modest domestic energy needs. 'I hope that after these first steps, the next generation will ask us why it wasn't normal in the past to harvest energy from plants.'
Scottish Sun
08-05-2025
- Automotive
- Scottish Sun
World's ‘first ever' photoshoot powered by NATURE using remarkable technique – and it could be used for home appliances next
POWER PLANT World's 'first ever' photoshoot powered by NATURE using remarkable technique – and it could be used for home appliances next THE first ever photoshoot 'powered by nature' has taken place - and this is the result. A new technology has been developed which turns energy produced by plants into electricity - effectively a process of harnessing photosynthetic energy. Advertisement 3 Experts harnessed photosynthetic energy to pull it off Credit: PEUGEOT / George Williams 3 Technique was used to photograph the all-electric new PEUGEOT E-5008 Credit: PEUGEOT / George Williams 3 Image will go on display in London's Saatchi Gallery Credit: PEUGEOT / George Williams To power the lighting of the night shoot for a new car, experts buried microbial fuel cells into soil which in turn were connected to batteries to charge them. When plants photosynthesise, they produce excess organic compounds as waste which are released into the soil or water. Geo-bacteria in the soil and water digest this organic waste and release electrons – and it was this energy which was collected using the buried microbial fuel cells. Taken by specialist photographer, George Williams, the images, which will go on display in London's Saatchi Gallery, feature the all-electric new PEUGEOT E-5008. Advertisement The car maker teamed up with Dutch research and design studio Nova Innova for the shoot and spokesperson for the studio, Ermi Van Oers said: 'This first-of-its-kind shoot was a great and unique way to demonstrate what is possible with our technology. 'We hope that this technology can be scaled to help power more aspects of our lives in the future including household appliances and elements of our vehicles. 'PEUGEOT is committed to finding innovative and sustainable solutions, making it the perfect partner for such a project, and it has been great to work with them to bring our technology to a wider audience.' As many as 30 microbial fuel cells were used for the shoot, with 10 powered by organic waste from 11 plants with a further 10 powered using a mix of 188 litres of mud and 94 litres of water. Advertisement While the rest were powered by a mix of 60 litres of mud and two litres of used coffee grounds. Spokesperson for the automobile manufacturer, Nicola Dobson said: 'The world's first photoshoot powered by plant energy with the new E-5008 showcases PEUGEOT's commitment to innovation and adoption of new technology.' The shoot follows a study by the car maker which found 58 per cent of motorists said commitment from manufacturers to invest in green technology is important to them when buying a car. While 70 per cent revealed sustainability is significant to them when buying products generally. Advertisement Further to this, the research carried out through OnePoll of 2,000 adults who drive also found 55 per cent are more likely to buy from a brand which prioritises sustainability over one which doesn't.
The Sun
08-05-2025
- Automotive
- The Sun
World's ‘first ever' photoshoot powered by NATURE using remarkable technique – and it could be used for home appliances next
THE first ever photoshoot 'powered by nature' has taken place - and this is the result. A new technology has been developed which turns energy produced by plants into electricity - effectively a process of harnessing photosynthetic energy. 3 3 3 To power the lighting of the night shoot for a new car, experts buried microbial fuel cells into soil which in turn were connected to batteries to charge them. When plants photosynthesise, they produce excess organic compounds as waste which are released into the soil or water. Geo-bacteria in the soil and water digest this organic waste and release electrons – and it was this energy which was collected using the buried microbial fuel cells. Taken by specialist photographer, George Williams, the images, which will go on display in London's Saatchi Gallery, feature the all-electric new PEUGEOT E-5008. The car maker teamed up with Dutch research and design studio Nova Innova for the shoot and spokesperson for the studio, Ermi Van Oers said: 'This first-of-its-kind shoot was a great and unique way to demonstrate what is possible with our technology. 'We hope that this technology can be scaled to help power more aspects of our lives in the future including household appliances and elements of our vehicles. 'PEUGEOT is committed to finding innovative and sustainable solutions, making it the perfect partner for such a project, and it has been great to work with them to bring our technology to a wider audience.' As many as 30 microbial fuel cells were used for the shoot, with 10 powered by organic waste from 11 plants with a further 10 powered using a mix of 188 litres of mud and 94 litres of water. While the rest were powered by a mix of 60 litres of mud and two litres of used coffee grounds. Spokesperson for the automobile manufacturer, Nicola Dobson said: 'The world's first photoshoot powered by plant energy with the new E-5008 showcases PEUGEOT's commitment to innovation and adoption of new technology.' The shoot follows a study by the car maker which found 58 per cent of motorists said commitment from manufacturers to invest in green technology is important to them when buying a car. While 70 per cent revealed sustainability is significant to them when buying products generally. Further to this, the research carried out through OnePoll of 2,000 adults who drive also found 55 per cent are more likely to buy from a brand which prioritises sustainability over one which doesn't.
Business Mayor
07-05-2025
- Automotive
- Business Mayor
World's first photoshoot 'powered by plants' takes place to capture stunning images of ele
A pioneering photoshoot, hailed as the world's first to be 'powered by nature', has successfully demonstrated an innovative method of generating energy. The groundbreaking project was a collaborative effort between Dutch research and design studio Nova Innova and PEUGEOT, with photographer George Williams capturing the remarkable images that will be exhibited at London's prestigious Saatchi Gallery. So, what's behind this revolutionary approach to energy production? The project harnessed the power of 'plant energy' by leveraging the natural process of photosynthesis, where plants utilise sunlight to grow. As plants produce organic waste, which is absorbed by the surrounding soil or water, specialist bacteria break down this waste, releasing tiny electrons in the process. To tap into this eco-friendly energy source, researchers employed microbial fuel cells in the soil, collecting the energy generated by the bacterial breakdown and storing it in batteries. These batteries were then used to power the lighting for the extraordinary photoshoot. Ermi Van Oers, a spokesperson for Nova Innova, expressed their enthusiasm for the achievement: 'This first-of-its-kind shoot was a great way to show what's possible with our technology. 'In the future, we hope this method can be scaled up to power things like household appliances and even parts of vehicles.' They added: 'It's been wonderful working alongside PEUGEOT, a company committed to sustainable innovation, to introduce this to a wider audience.' Generating the energy required for the photoshoot was an impressive feat. The team harnessed power from 30 microbial fuel cells, utilising natural materials such as plant waste, a mixture of 94 litres of water with 188 litres of mud, and even spent coffee grounds. Nicola Dobson from PEUGEOT illuminated the groundbreaking nature of the shoot: 'The world's first photoshoot powered by plant energy with the new E-5008 demonstrates PEUGEOT's dedication to embracing innovation and sustainable technology.' This initiative reflects the growing demand for eco-friendly solutions among consumers and drivers alike. PEUGEOT's research indicates that 70% of consumers prioritise sustainability in their purchasing decisions, with 55% more inclined to support brands that are environmentally conscious. Additionally, 58% of motorists expect car manufacturers to invest in eco-friendly technologies. By combining cutting-edge science with artistry, this 'powered by nature' shoot highlights a future where sustainability and innovation work hand in hand – and the possibilities are boundless. READ SOURCE
