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What if the game changer of energy has been evaporating right under our noses! We normally think of solar panels and wind turbines for sustainable sources of power, however it does not end there.

According to Columbia University scientists, one untapped energy source may be the massive amount of water continually evaporating from the world's lakes and reservoirs.

The Energy Retrieval

This natural phenomena, could be converted into energy using devices containing sheets covered with a bacterial spore, which will begin to contract and expand due to a change of moisture - nearly identical to our muscles flexing. This "mechanical muscle" could be used to generate enormous amounts of electricity, says university scientists. In a newly published article in the journal Nature Communications, "Researchers estimate that inland bodies of water in the United States have at least the theoretical potential to generate as much as 325 gigawatts of electricity". Amazing, this would generate nearly 70% of the United States nationwide electrical consumption in 2015.

The Prototypes Shaping The Future

"Our artificial muscle absorbs water evaporating from the surface of the lake," says chemical engineer and study lead author Ahmet-Hamdi Cavusoglu, via email. "As it absorbs water, the muscle swells and expands."

"When the muscle absorbs all the possible water, the shutters above the muscle open so that water can evaporate into the air from the muscle. As the water leaves the muscle, the muscle shrinks, pulling at a turbine to generate energy, similar to a rower on a rowing machine pulling at the turbine."

"Bacterial spores typically exist in dry places, when spores see moisture around itself it absorbs some of that moisture, in turn the spore gets bigger and when it finds a dry environment it shrinks again." claims Oscar, one of the head scientists at Columbia University working on the development of this technology.

This video shows the evaporation machines which
may power the future.

Only Just Begun

As of now, this technology has only been tested in a laboratory setting, there is far more research and development ahead before the technology could be scaled up to and become a major source of electricity.

"First, better and bigger materials need to be made that can effectively harness energy from evaporation," says Cavusoglu.

"Currently, the Sahin lab is researching how to make better spore-based materials and building larger engine prototypes. We hope to see larger prototypes being demonstrated in the next few years."

What do you think? Could evaporation be the game changer for renewable energy?

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Images: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

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