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Technology

Batteries Powered by Leftover Food 268

Posted by michael from the my-refrigerator-suddenly-becomes-very-valuable dept.
Lazyhound writes "Technologists at the University of the West of England in Bristol have come up with a cheap, organic battery that can run on household leftovers, and be manufactured for just £10." There's also a New Scientist article. The New Scientist would like to point out that they broke the story, and the BBC followed up.
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Batteries Powered by Leftover Food More

Batteries Powered by Leftover Food

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  • Flux Capacitor (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 10, 2002 @08:47AM (#4422981)
    Is it on the back of a Delorean?

  • Finally.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by dirkdidit ( 550955 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @08:49AM (#4422997) Homepage
    Now I finally have a use for all that old pizza stacked up in the corner of my room......

  • many a person has pondered the food-to-fuel idea (Score:3, Funny)

    by sirinek ( 41507 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @08:50AM (#4423001) Homepage Journal

    I bet you could power a HUGE beowulf cluster (sorry had to) if only you could harness the gas from everyone eating taco bell. Now theres something to do if you have leftovers. Sort of a gas/electric hybrid, watch for Honda's next innovation. Should be interesting!

  • Wow! (Score:3, Funny)

    by IWantMoreSpamPlease ( 571972 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @08:51AM (#4423009) Homepage Journal
    On a leftover Twinkie, you could get power forever!
  • Nice invention, but nowadays batteries are used mostly in cell-phones, PDA's, etc. With the trend of miniaturising these, I can already see the mess, trying to pry sticky leftovers in my cell-phone :(
    • They'd probably sell you a liquifying tool. Probably a cheap miniature blender.

      They could give them away as sort of a promotion... "Buy this battery pack and we'll throw in a Fuelizer(tm) for free!"

  • Don't count on seeing it in your home anytime soon (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 10, 2002 @08:53AM (#4423018)
    "A clean green technology? Commie hippie anti-capitalist root-eating sons of socialists!" ::CEO starts having a heart attack::

  • Similar (Score:5, Informative)

    by elykyllek ( 543092 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @08:53AM (#4423019) Homepage
    Similar to this Vehicle? [slashdot.org]

  • hmm (Score:5, Funny)

    by \\ ( 118555 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @08:53AM (#4423021) Homepage
    i wonder what the bastard will smell like.. if it isn't pleasant, might take a while to gain acceptance.

    then again, if it smells like garbage, maybe it could attract flies, and maybe the flies could feed it.. ah, that would be funny.

  • Carnivorous Robot (Score:5, Informative)

    by qurob ( 543434 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @08:54AM (#4423023) Homepage

    http://www.howstuffworks.com/news-item107.htm [howstuffworks.com]

  • I have the superpower (Score:5, Funny)

    by squarefish ( 561836 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @08:54AM (#4423025)
    to turn leftover food into gas!

  • Web page of the team leader: (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 10, 2002 @08:55AM (#4423028)
    http://www.ias.uwe.ac.uk/goto.html?c-melhui [uwe.ac.uk]

  • Prior Art (Score:5, Funny)

    by AndroidCat ( 229562 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @08:56AM (#4423032) Homepage
    I've been running my fridge that way for years now!
    • -Quote- I've been running my fridge that way for years now! -/Quote-

      That is exactly how I run my car too... Half eaten sandwhich over here, some chips on the seat, open soda cans between the seats, etc.

      I still cant figure out why I can't have a second date with a chick tho. Go figure?

  • Leftovers? (Score:4, Funny)

    by bo-eric ( 263735 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @08:57AM (#4423037)
    Can you run your fridge off what's closest to the back in there?

  • It brings tears to my eyes. (Score:3, Funny)

    by fractalk ( 564689 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @08:58AM (#4423042)
    Scientists say 50 grammes of sugar would keep a 40-watt light bulb lit for eight hours.

    Now snif, snif, I can finally take that road trip with only a laptop and 200 liters of soda that I always dreamed of!!

    if only they make a satellite dish that works on pickled weiners...

  • Using myself to fuel the car (Score:4, Funny)

    by jukal ( 523582 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @08:59AM (#4423051) Journal
    Weight Watchers [weightwatchers.com] beware!

    Scientists say 50 grammes of sugar would keep a 40-watt light bulb lit for eight hours.

    Now, what I will do, is to just connect this liposuction [discoverpl...urgery.com] device with me and their innovation, turn my fat into hydrogen and fuel my car [canadiandriver.com]. I assume my excess kgs of excess fat will take me to whereever I want. Haha! Here we come McDonald's [mcdonalds.com]!

    • Hmm. I like the idea.

      I have no idea how this could work, but imagine uh nanobots or something that ran around your body using your fat for energy, and doing something useful, like uh strectching the muscles and whatever else nanobots do.
      • Isaac Asimov's Moonbase is a story about nanomachines, their uses, and the violent public backlash. (Those people were called "nanoluddites")

  • Great for UPS!!!! (Score:5, Funny)

    by dr.Flake ( 601029 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @08:59AM (#4423054)


    Imagine,

    a stack of left over pizza suspended by a magnet waiting above "the Pit". when the power drops, the pizza drops.... voila, instant power back-up...

    Need more power???, just add pizza.

  • Use in remote places (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Diver777 ( 614939 ) <jjtimmer@stud e ... th.uwaterloo.ca> on Thursday October 10, 2002 @08:59AM (#4423059) Homepage
    I can definatly see a possible use for such a product in remote locations, such as while camping. Like the article points out
    "Scientists say 50 grammes of sugar would keep a 40-watt light bulb lit for eight hours"
    which is pretty damn good for having to carry a little bit of sugar (as well as the device) with you on your camping trip. The less you need to carry, the better!
    • The nice part about this battery is, 'What happens if it runs out?'.

      Simple. I have no idea about plants, but I imagine woodland creatures are bound to have some degree of the appropriate susbtances in them.

      Gives a whole new meaning to the concept of an 'Energizer Bunny'.
  • i think i already know the awnser, but the article says "Chemical reactions inside the cell strip electrons from the hydrogen atoms to produce a voltage that can power a circuit.

    Scientists say 50 grammes of sugar would keep a 40-watt light bulb lit for eight hours.


    so does the e.coli eat it's excrement (hydrogen) and produce electricity? i'm guessing it's the cell in the battery that does this...

    secondly - let's sterilize the hell out of our current landfills, and introduce this bacteria to them! same thing goes for our mouths - no more cavities!

  • I don't get something -- (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Whispers_in_the_dark ( 560817 ) <rich,harkins&gmail,com> on Thursday October 10, 2002 @09:00AM (#4423063)
    "It has to be able to use raw materials, rather than giving it refined fuel."

    Huh? I for one would happily buy one if it could run my 40W max laptop for 8 hours on an ounce and a half (about 50 grams) of refined sugar. Why does it need further refinement before use?
    • No, they don't want more refinement, they want less. As in you stick the raw sugar beets or sugar cane inside.

    • Osmolarity (Score:5, Informative)

      by bluveinr ( 468313 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @10:09AM (#4423554)
      The reason raw sugar won't work, is because it will kill the ecoli. The water content in the bug is much higher than that in the surrounding media(pure sugar in this case). The water will will move towards the region of the high sugar content (following the gradient of high water concentration to low). This will dessicate the ecoli and kill them.
      • Team leader Chris Melhuish told New Scientist magazine said that although the new MCFs run on sugar cubes, the team aims to move on to carrot power.

        "It has to be able to use raw materials, rather than giving it refined fuel."

        I think you missed the point. At present, they probably do add water to the sugar. But they are aiming to process household wastes (carrot peels, sewage) rather than refined sugar (a pure carbohydrate like, er, petrol/gasoline).

  • Finally (Score:3, Funny)

    by ksplatter ( 573000 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @09:00AM (#4423070)
    Moms Can't yell at Kids anymore for not eating their dinner. I can see it now.

    Boy: "Mom I don't want to eat my dinner!"
    Mom: "Fine son well at least refresh the batteries in my Vibrator"
    Boy: Sure Mom!!!

  • "Power hungry" ??? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Tord ( 5801 ) <tord,jansson&gmail,com> on Thursday October 10, 2002 @09:01AM (#4423077) Homepage
    Guess this gives a whole new dimension to the words "power hungry equipment"...

  • Could the Colis be outcompeted? (Score:5, Funny)

    by jeorgen ( 84395 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @09:07AM (#4423113)
    Leftovers contain bacteria. What happens if the bacteria in the leftovers outcompete the battery bacteria. Would you need to treat the battery with antibiotics?

    /jeorgen

  • Thanks, but I'll wait for Mr Fusion (Score:5, Funny)

    by chegosaurus ( 98703 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @09:09AM (#4423124) Homepage
    A colony of e-coli bacteria? Like I don't already have enought of that shit floating round my kitchen.

  • Huge implications (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 10, 2002 @09:09AM (#4423128)
    This is some serious tech advance, but there's just one last step to make.
    From the article:
    Team leader Chris Melhuish told New Scientist magazine said that although the new MCFs run on sugar cubes, the team aims to move on to carrot power.

    "It has to be able to use raw materials, rather than giving it refined fuel."

    Inside the battery, which is the size of a personal CD player, a colony of E.coli bacteria produce enzymes which break down carbohydrates and release hydrogen.

    Chemical reactions inside the cell strip electrons from the hydrogen atoms to produce a voltage that can power a circuit.

    Scientists say 50 grammes of sugar would keep a 40-watt light bulb lit for eight hours.


    This I want to power my car. And laptop. And house appliances (not just so that I can pour coffee on my computer to recharge the battery)


    This solves the hydrogen-storing problem in the hydrogen powered vehicles [geocities.com]: no more dangerous concentration of hydrogen, instead you get a small tank containing bubbling "mud". Not quite inflammable in case of a collision.
    Add to this that it's hardly polluting (just as much as taking a dump in a bosquet, I'd say), and it even helps reducing the amount of houseold garbage (Powerplants recycling garbage, anyone ?).


    The main aspect of this energy source is that it completely suppress the need for combustion. Instead it uses slow, catalyzed, controlled chemical processes that use a lower amount of initial energy. No more smoke.


    Maybe I'm overstating all this, but it definitely looks cool. And it's cheap, too. Carrot-powered car, coming our way !

    • Re:Huge implications (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Paladin814 ( 518257 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @09:54AM (#4423451)
      Maybe I'm overstating all this, but it definitely looks cool. And it's cheap, too. Carrot-powered car, coming our way !

      This has more meaning then you might think for the economy. The idea that a country will not have to import oil any longer to maintain its power systems / gas requirements is just as important as the savings for the individual from not having to go to the gas station.

      This would put farmers back to work producing carets in every country in the world, even giving 3rd world countries an exportable resource. Not to mention the environmental effects of having thousands of caret crops producing oxygen on top of a mass reduction of toxins being thrown into the air.

      With this, every 3rd world country that does not have pollution laws will find it cheaper not to pollute, and everyone could meet the Kyoto protocol. I can just imagine the new commercials coming out from the "Juice Man" now. With him dumping his carets into a juicer and drinking the juice, putting the pulp into his car...

      • Umm. Wouldn't juicing take out most of the sugar? After all, when he said carrots, I immediatley assumed the purpose of using carrots was because of their high sugar content.

  • At last! (Score:2, Funny)

    by miffo.swe ( 547642 )
    Finally i have use for all pizza slices all over my desk. Must be a godsend for geeks.

  • Potato clock (Score:3, Interesting)

    by (trb001) ( 224998 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @09:15AM (#4423168) Homepage
    I remember wiring potatoes into a clock I had as a kid, so this really is nothing new. The ability to harnass food is grand and all, but the food gets pretty smelly after a few days.

    --trb

    • Re:Potato clock (Score:3, Informative)

      by p3d0 ( 42270 )
      Sorry, this has nothing to do with the potato clock at all. The energy for a potato clock doesn't even come from the potatoes. It comes from the electrodes "dissolving" into the potatoes. The electrodes are consumed in the process.

      The article describes a microbial fuel cell that is totally different.

    • The potato clock is a different deal... (Score:5, Informative)

      by Nino the Mind Boggle ( 10910 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @09:45AM (#4423372)
      The potato clock is just a battery, not a fuel cell. You stick two dissimilar metals into any electrolyte (such as the juice in a potato) and you get current. Heck, with one of those kits, you could stick the electrodes into your mouth and generate current.

      On a related note, because the amalgam fillings in your mouth contain two dissimilar metals (silver and mercury), and saliva is an electrolyte, you could conceivably power your cell phone with your fillings. I am NOT making this up, there are documented medical cases where galvanic reactions involving amalgam fillings have been observed, e.g.: "Dr. William Cheshire, a physician at the Mayo Clinic, reports on a case where a woman's trigeminal neuralgia (tic douloureux) was traced to a galvanic reaction between an amalgam filling and an adjacent gold-alloy crown. Consumption of tomatoes and other acidic foods produced intense jolts described as being like those of an 'electrical battery'." (The abstract is here [yourhealthbase.com].

  • 1 W = 1 J/s. 1 kcal = 1 Cal = 4000 J. Therefore, if I want 3 kW of power continuously (which is about how much an average US home uses), I would need to feed my HomeStomach(TM) Generator less than 3/4 Calorie/second. My suggestion is to stock up on Tic-Tacs.

  • From the article... (Score:3, Funny)

    by OpCode42 ( 253084 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @09:18AM (#4423189) Homepage
    Inside the battery, which is the size of a personal CD player, a colony of E.coli bacteria produce enzymes which break down carbohydrates and release hydrogen.

    I dont know how comfortable I would be with on eof these in my home...

  • airline food... (Score:5, Funny)

    by coreman ( 8656 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @09:24AM (#4423216) Homepage
    will suddenly be in demand on long flights

  • no more gasoline (Score:2, Funny)

    by alexc ( 37361 )
    woo hooo we can now get rid of the internal combustion engine!
  • Ok, so they can turn food into power, now all I need is a delorian that goes back in time and I'll have a perfect life!

  • A few considerations (Score:4, Insightful)

    by archeopterix ( 594938 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @09:31AM (#4423258) Journal
    1. The article says that to obtain 40 watts of power you need many such cells. I wonder exactly how many. More than will fit into my laptop case?
    2. Besides sugar, the cell needs some mysterious 'redox chemicals'. How expensive they are? Can they be produced environmentally-friendly? Are they safe to store? So, this might or might not be a great invention.
  • From the article:

    Scientists say 50 grammes of sugar would keep a 40-watt light bulb lit for eight hours.

    Two questions:

    • What's the price of 50g. of sugar? Is it less than the cost of producing the same amount of energy with a conventional power station?
    • 40W of power is how much in terms of computing power? In other terms: how long would 50g of sugar power the average laptop?


    This being said, this is truly interesting!
    • 50g sugar is about 5 cents.

      50g gives 40 watts for 8 hours = 0,32 Wh. Where I live that's about 7 cents worth of electricity.

      But the really interesting part is of course how it compares to conventional means of disposing garbage. And I'm pretty sure that 0,32 Wh of portable electricity is quite a lot better than the power output from burning 50g of sugar (or placing as part of a large smelly pile...)

    • Re:Two important questions... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by JimPooley ( 150814 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @09:59AM (#4423486) Homepage
      What's the price of 50g. of sugar?

      I can nip down the supermarket and buy a bag of sugar for 54p (0.54GBP). This bag contains 1Kg of sugar. So 50g. of sugar would cost under 3p.
      So threepence worth of sugar would keep my 40 watt light bulb on for eight hours.

      If electricty is charged at 6p per Kw/h (can't remember exactly, not got electricity bill on me) then the cost of lighting that 40w bulb is just under 2p. So there's not a lot in it!

      However this is mere nitpicking and missing the point entirely. At the moment they're using sugar in the prototype. They intend to refine the bio-generator to use first carrots rather than pure sugar, and move on household waste. STUFF YOU THROW AWAY and is therefore worthless. At that point, the running cost is effectively zero.

      So not only would this reduce the amount of rubbish thrown away by the average household, but it also reduces environmental damage done by power generation.

      Just don't throw your old antibiotics in it!

  • When will is use leaves and grass clippings (Score:4, Interesting)

    by aashenfe ( 558026 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @09:34AM (#4423284) Journal
    I wonder how much unused energy I rake off my yard every fall and send to the city compost pile.

    What I need is a back yard composter/fertilizer dispenser/generator that I can throw leaves, grass (actually I mulch these now), kitched scaps (sugar cubes, carrots, etc).

    I sell the extra energy back to the power grid, and spread the fertilizer on my yard.

    No wait, this would make to much ecological/economic sense, I must be some kind of hippie, tree hugger, freak.

  • Team leader Chris Melhuish told New Scientist magazine said that although the new MCFs run on sugar cubes, the team aims to move on to carrot power.

    Great... no matter what color car I buy, it will eventually turn orange.

  • 50 grams - 40 watts????? (Score:3, Informative)

    by snatchitup ( 466222 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @09:42AM (#4423346) Homepage Journal
    Scientists say 50 grammes of sugar would keep a 40-watt light bulb lit for eight hours.

    Let's do the math. 50 grames = 12 1/2 servings. Or, 12.5 * 15 = 187.5 C (That's big C calories or really kilo-calories).

    40 watts * 8 hours = .32 Killowatt Hours.

    A KW Hours costs about .06 here. So we're talking about 2 penny's worth of energy.

    A round cylindrical sugar container of the coffee area variety has 567g's so were talking about 1/10 of a thing of sugar which costs about $.50.

    So, the sugar costs 10 cents but the same energy produced by a power plant costs .02 cents.

    So, when the greens step up the argument of, big business is squashing new alternative energy sources, maybe there's sound economic reasoning on the part of the neysayers.

    • I think what you're missing here is the notion of efficiency. Ostensibly, the ElectroStomach is producing usable energy from what would otherwise be trash. So the cost isn't a factor, since you'd already purchased the fuel to begin with, and were only going to throw it away.

      If you imagine how much food goes down garbage disposals or gets dumped into landfills, there's conceivably millions of kilowatt-hours worth of power being lost. Reclaiming that power would be revolutionary.
    • I don't know about you, but I can get a 2 pound -- oh hell, let's call it one kilogram to make the conversions easy -- for about a buck. So, each gram costs $.001. Fifty grams, then, costs 5 cents, not fifty cents.

      I don't know where you're shopping, but you're paying too much for sugar.

      It gets even better when you buy it in bulk. Also, consider that you would no longer necessarily have to use sugar that was intended for human consumption. With that in mind, I'm sure there's probably "waste sugar" -- maybe its discolored, maybe it got contaminated in some way -- that still is suitable for the battery. That might be cheaper.

      Also, don't forget that the ultimate goal is to use leftovers, not pure sugar.

      Finally, you're using the traditional "free-market" technique of *not* looking at *all the costs*. Continuing to use traditional power plants running on oil means that we're constantly having to defend our "interests" in the middle east, spending billions and billions of dollars on military equipment and personel. This military intervention is what keeps our oil prices low. Thus, part of that cost has to be figured in to the cost of the electricity, and at that point the sugar wins hands down, I think.
      • Finally, you're using the traditional "free-market" technique of *not* looking at *all the costs*. Continuing to use traditional power plants running on oil means that we're constantly having to defend our "interests" in the middle east, spending billions and billions of dollars on military equipment and personel. This military intervention is what keeps our oil prices low. Thus, part of that cost has to be figured in to the cost of the electricity, and at that point the sugar wins hands down, I think

        Yes! Invade Hawaii!

  • That's nice and all.. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by JeffSh ( 71237 ) <jeffslashdot@[ ]0.org ['m0m' in gap]> on Thursday October 10, 2002 @09:45AM (#4423378)
    But localizing the energy production is a bit silly.

    With this method, you run into the same problems that we have with automobiles and other gas powered devices. They are less efficient than large scale counterparts, which leads to waste energy, lost in poor engines, and exhaust.

    It seems to make more sense to be to centralize the "compost" and generate electricity that way. This would keep bacteria in one place, and minimize the lost energy. It really wouldn't be any different than a power plant.

    infact i'm pretty sure that's already been done. What are the benefits to localizing the energy generation? I can't see any. People will have to clean the devices, organic matter doesn't rot away into nothing. There are components to the waste generated by the bacteria organisms. you cant really stick in food and have it *all* gone ..

    i see problems that are going to be difficult to fix. We already have a huge waste management system. It wouldn't be that much of a stretch for waste management to begin compost of organic waste and become power stations with the tech available. then the generated energy can just be stored in traditional batteries. it doesnt seem that these organic batteries offer any improved life over chemical batteries at all.
    • Well, the advantage might be that currently most people don't compost, as they have no reason too. Food scraps make up a decent amount of landfill waste, but it's all mixed in and can't be separated out.

      However, if people had a incentive for composting, they would put all of their waste into the battery located in the back of their house, say. While not all of the scraps would be gone, it would probably decay much more quickly than it would in a landfill, and it would generate some electricity.

      Waste management crews could pick up the waste once it had been decomposed, filter it, sanitize it, and sell it as a fertilizer or soil filler.

      The improvement is that chemical batteries actually add to our trash volume and these might reduce it.

    • Are you mad? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by delphi125 ( 544730 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @01:08PM (#4425171)
      Silly... less efficient than large scale counterparts... I can't see any [benefits to localizing the energe generation]

      I don't even know where to begin! Converting organic matter to electricity on demand on a portable scale - and you dismiis it as silly!

      I'm a bit rusty on my recycling but:

      1. Primary: re-use for original purpose (e.g. second-hand clothes)
      2. Secondary: re-use for alternative purpose (e.g. clothes as wiping rags)
      3. Tertiary: reclamation of materials (e.g. clothes as paper fibre)
      4. Quaternery: reclamation of energy (e.g. burning the clothes to warm you up)
      So unless you like eating someone elses left-overs, want to replant the seeds of the tomato they've eaten, or make a halloween pumpkin, you are left with energy or land-fill. Silly energy!?

      I simply don't understand the argument that it is more efficient to gather the waste to a central location (by truck?), burn/convert it there, transmit across a high voltage line to your house, charge a NiCd, etc, than to stuff your leftovers in a CD size case and get energy provided by nature's best organic catalysts in the middle of no-where, or at the bottom of your loo.

      Or were you planning to hook up all of Africa to the American grid? This would be ideal for families in developing countries to run a lamp bulb (or radio, or even a computer) off after 6 p.m. on the equator.

      Gaah, nuff said.

  • Finally, It has a use (Score:3, Funny)

    by Jonny Balls ( 543700 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @09:52AM (#4423428) Homepage
    I now finally have SOMETHING to do with my moms MEAT LOAF

  • waste removal (Score:3, Funny)

    by cowtamer ( 311087 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @09:59AM (#4423484) Journal
    I hate to point out the obvious, but how will you remove the digested food from the battery?

    (Of course, this is not a problem for backyard generator type of systems, but might be for your laptop)

  • Third World fuel (Score:3, Insightful)

    by bryguy5 ( 512759 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @10:03AM (#4423516) Homepage
    The benefits of this are enourmous in a place like Papua New Guinea [cia.gov] where subsitance farmers don't really have a true cash economy and as such don't have any way to adequately pay for kerosene or "zoom" - motorboat fuel as I like to call it. Solar is to expensive, but fruits and vegitables are really cheap and plentiful.
  • Will the British government bust people who use these batteries for evading the UK's fuel tax? They are busting the drivers of "grease cars." [netscape.com] The oil mafia will crush alternative fuels at every turn, and they have governments in their back pockets.
    • Actually I think you'll find that the fuel tax goes into the economy (and pays for road maintenance, etc) and NOT to the oil companies, and one of the reasons it's so high is to try and persuade people to use public transport more - which is a good thing...
      • I'm not saying that the fuel tax itself is a bad thing, or that tax revenue is handed to the cartels, but using the fuel tax as an excuse to squash the pioneers of alternative fuels is absolutely doing the bidding of the oil cartels, who won't tolerate any competition. The UK could tax cooking oil used as fuel, instead of busting people who use it. I suspect that the fossil fuel cartels won't like bio batteries any more than "grease cars." It may take the oil wells running dry before alternative fuels are taken seriously.
  • Their numbers contain a little of the stench usually associated with products containing Ecoli---

    -lets do a little math...

    The article claims 8 hours @ 40 watts from 50 grams of sugar: 40watts=.04kW :: .04kw*8hours=0.32kWh=1152kiloJoules

    according to the domino box in my hand, 4grams sugar=15 Calories, so the sugar contains 12.5*15=187.5 Calories :: 187.5Calories = 785 kiloJoules

    So-- they claim to be getting 1152kJ output for a 785kJ input???? 146% output is impressive, but not likely.

  • If you have leftover it simply means you cooked too much!

    Sure this is a good idea, but it only uses the energy in the food - i.e. all the time you use to cook it, decoration etc. are still completely wasted efforts. I'm sure the battery would still work if you put the "raw materials" in it i.e. eggs, meat, vegetables, sugar, grain etc.

    Cooking it then feeding it to a battery instead of eating it just makes no sense to me. Unless they make a battery with a sense of taste.

  • They gave a rough figure of 50g of sugar powering a 40W light bulb for eight hours.

    40W x 8hrs = 0.32 kWh
    50g * 2.204623 = 0.110 lbs
    Cheap bags of sugar at netgrocer are $0.66/lb.
    0.11 lbs * $0.66 = $0.073
    1/0.32 = 3.125
    $0.073*3.125 = $0.23

    So by my rough calculations, if you bought bags of sugar to feed the fuel cell for house power, you'd be paying $0.23/kWh, which is significantly higher than I pay for electricity here in Texas.

    Their currently technology only uses pure sugar. They're working towards carrots they claim - but I would imagine the efficiency can only decrease from the raw sugar efficiency per dollar unless the fundamentals of their technology improve.

  • Mandatory ex-wife joke (Score:3, Funny)

    by r_j_prahad ( 309298 ) <r_j_prahad@@@hotmail...com> on Thursday October 10, 2002 @11:23AM (#4424097)
    Well that means my ex-wife will never have to worry about having a dead battery in her car ever again. She's got enough MacDonalds french fries stuck in the seat crack to crank the engine for *days*. And still have enough Joules left over to light Las Vegas on Christmas Eve.

  • Batteries that poop (Score:4, Funny)

    by timeOday ( 582209 ) on Thursday October 10, 2002 @11:25AM (#4424137)
    Using such low-density fuel,there will be waste...

    Be sure your batteries get plenty of fiber to avoid constipation.

  • Med Centers for batteries...

    NURSE: I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do.

    OWNER: But my laptop was just fine a few minutes ago? What happened?

    NURSE: Your organic batteries have food poisoning.

    OWNER: Oh my lord... what can I do!?!?

    NURSE: Nothing... he's dead now Jim.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

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