As it turns out, the quest for a trash-powered hovercraft much like the time traveling DeLorian in Back to the Future Part 2 (which I happen to think is one my favorite sci-fi movies of all time) has become an inch closer to reality with the invention of a clever contraption that can turn paper waste into electricity. This is courtesy of electronics giant Sony Corp. which recently announced their invention and has shown how it works. Referred to as “bio-batteries”, what they actually do is convert paper into fuel (namely, glucose) that can be converted into electrical energy.
In demonstrations, Sony urged visitors to get pieces of cardboard and paper and drop them into a chemical mixture that breaks them down to glucose. This glucose is then chemically converted into electrical energy which can be used to power, say, the flux capacitor of a DeLorian time machine! Well, not really. Not yet at least (the demo shows it powering only a small electric-powered fan). Sony hasn’t really looked that far into the future yet but some say that commercial applications may include having the ability to provide supplementary power for mobile electronic devices such as laptops, tablets and cell phones. This is quite cool especially for clean and green advocates who are always on the look out for ways to reduce their carbon footprints and help do their part in protecting the environment by supporting renewable power sources. A noteworthy advantage of Sony’s invention is that it produces by-products that will not harm the environment.
Energy from paper isn’t really a new concept as there have been other similar ideas in the past. Take the case of this 2009 Standford University news article on the combination of nanotechnology, paper and ink technologies to produce efficient batteries.
The idea of producing power from trash isn’t new either as this 2007 Purdue University publication on a portable generator that can use food, paper and plastic wastes as fuel to produce useable electricity can attest.
So while Doc Brown’s trash-fueled time machine may still be a long ways off, it is pretty nice to know that there are more prospects and options in the horizon for renewable portable power generation. We’re in for exciting times indeed as far as this industry is concerned.