Did you catch
the latest news? Yesterday our good old allies the Saudis decided to decrease
production again. Basically they want to screw with our supply during the
winter season. When will Bush get it through his thick noggin that the Saudis
are our enemy?
From:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Tim Harder
Sent: Friday, September 26, 2003
8:45 AM
To: The Sandbox Discussion List
Subject: Re: [Sndbox] Bacterial
energy
One step closer to having the Arabs drink their oil?
On Thursday, September 25, 2003, at 06:50 PM, Lowell R. Matthews wrote:
I don't usually type out whole articles, butU.S. News & World Report has this annoying habit of
charging for anything older than two weeks, and I'm usually at least that far
behind. :-) This is just cool, though....
Best wishes,
Lowell
* * *
Bug Juice: Watts from Waste?
Charles W. Petit
USN&WR, 9/15/2003, p. 49
Hardworking microbes might power your laptop some day, or maybe even your lawn
mower. A recently discovered strain of bacteria efficiently makes
electricity while turning sugars in plant waste and other garbage into water
and carbon dioxide. The microbe grows in the mud under a Virginia bay,
but scientists reported this week that it also lives happily in an experimental
fuel cell, dumping electrons into its wiring with 80-plus percent efficiency.
Electricity is part of the currency of living cells, which routinely shuttle
electrons about while getting energy from sugars. But other biology-based
systems tested in fuel cells demand additional, efficiency-sapping steps to get
the electrons to the circuitry. Microbiologist Derek Lovley of the
University of Massachusetts - Amherst, one of the microbe's discoverers and
coauthor of the new report in Nature
Biotechnology, says he's not sure the bacteria could deliver the
oomph needed for, say, cars. But a garbage-stoked fuel cell might run
electronic devices in areas away from power lines. Imagine wiring and
inoculating your compost pile, he says. "It would trickle-charge
your electric mower for next weekend, in time to make more grass
clippings."
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