Harvesting energy from the natural transpiration of plants could provide a novel, renewable source of power by capturing the energy released as the moisture evaporates from plant surfaces.
Industrial Revolution unlocked a whole new energy resource of fossil fuels which became a fundamental driver of the technological, social, economic, and development progress in the modern world. The modern world therefore has named it “Black Gold”.
The current global annual rate of greenhouse gas emissions is around 59 Gt (Gigatons) CO2, a major proportion of which comes from fossil fuels only.
The Most Critical Impact of Fossil Fuels to the Climate
Researchers have forecasted that at this rate, it will take 9-10 years to add another 550-600 Gt CO2 to the atmosphere. Coal, being the cheapest and dirtiest fossil fuel, is the single-largest source of carbon emissions, which in particular, led to 40 Gt carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, the highest level ever recorded in 2023.
Pollution is a major concern with fossil fuels. Leading global coal consumers are China, which burns more coal than the rest of the world combined, and India, which is now burning more coal than Europe and North America combined.
Efforts to a Clean Atmosphere in United States
In connection with sustainable energy efforts, the United States being the world’s third-largest consumer of coal consumption has halved its consumption in the last decade leading to a significant decrease in CO2 emissions in the US.
The emerging trends in energy has led to development of electronic vehicles and an alternate “Green Fuel”. The largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States is from burning fossil fuels for electricity, heat, and transportation.
In the transportation sector, the use of electric cars and bio-fuels has made a significant contribution towards environmental safety and sustainability of the natural materials. Similar trends have shown positive impacts in other sectors like energy and industry throughout United States.
Bio Fuels from Waste Leaves – Conventional Methods
In this traditional method, Bio-Fuels are produced from waste leaves on the ground and are considered eco-friendly. The major objective is to use leaves (biomass) as raw materials and convert them into solid biofuel briquettes/pellets using different processes and techniques.
Briquettes are a compressed block of coal dust or other combustible biomass material e.g. charcoal, sawdust, wood chips, peat (waste leaves), or paper used for fuel and kindling to start a fire.
The process starts with the choice and selection of leaves depending on their proximate analysis and their calorific value. After collection, they are sundried and transferred to roasting process. Due to poor energy characteristics, the roasting end product is to be crushed and densified with specific additives chosen for binding the roasted biomass and increase its calorific value.
Here, solar energy is used to heat up the reactor to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. After reaching a desired temperature for optimal working process, these roasted leaves are converted into briquettes by densification process. This fuel is energy efficient and economically feasible as compared to other primary fuels.
Bio Electricity from Green Leaves - An Innovative Approach
Obtaining energy from green leaves is entirely different from conventional ways of producing bio fuels from organic materials like leaves, feedstock, animal manure etc. This latest technique has been recently used by scientists in China to obtain electricity from transpiration process of green leaves.
In this most recent perspective of advanced green energy technologies, the experiments have recently been done on Lotus leaves but the technology could transform almost all leaves on Earth into a sustainable and continuous energy source.
The Innovative Hydrovoltaic System
Unlike conventional hydroelectric power producing techniques, which relies on the force of moving water pushing against a turbine, hydrovoltaic systems generate energy from interactions within the water itself.
But in this advanced technology, the scientists here capture energy generated by water molecules evaporating, condensing and diffusing and in the case of plants, from ions moving as water is pulled from roots to leaves.
As a matter of fact of widespread abundance of leaves, this study is one of the first to harvest energy directly from the natural transpiration of plant leaves, resulting in supply of emissions-free cheaper electricity for smart grids. Thus the movement of water evaporating out of a leaf will be opening a door to generating clean and cheaper electricity from nature.
The scientists created an electrical system by installing a titanium mesh electrode on the leaf to act as a cathode, and inserting a needle electrode in the stem as an anode.
During the process of movement of water upwards to transpire through the leaf’s stomata (the microscopic pores in plant leaves that release water and vapor and control the rate of gas exchange between the internal air spaces of the leaf and the atmosphere), the ions moving between the electrodes create an electrical potential difference that generated electricity throughout the day.
While connected to a device, the energy from a single leaf can generate a tiny electrical current, just 50 nanoamperes. But this could be amplified by adding connections together in a series.
Commercial viability of the technology depends upon ways to increase the output of individual leaves and optimize energy collection and storage.
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