Prediction: Energy From Thin Air

Prediction: Startups Will Commercialize Better Ways to Produce Energy From Thin Air

Status: Occurring

Innovation Opportunities
Invisible Power is everywhere. We are bombarded by more than just sunlight. All movement could, in theory, be harnessed—wind, ocean waves, wireless signals, human motion, static electricity, moving water in plumbing, a chatty neighbor, you name it. Some of these things are already being turned into power. Intel is working on tiny, wearable sensors that can capture energy from body heat and sunlight. This gives a whole new meaning to the words “power tie.”
Simon Fraser University in Vancouver developed a way to capture energy from human movement, specifically walking. This technology could reduce the size and weight of batteries that soldiers or emergency workers carry. The Canadian military signed on as the first client. (Perhaps they will power the Celine Dion radio each soldier is required to carry.) Sweden’s Jernhusen designed a system of vents and sensors to capture surplus body heat from commuters at a high-traffic train station to warm a nearby office building, reducing energy costs by 25 percent.
Econovation, 2011, p117