Generating electricity with polymers?
After yesterday, here is another story about using plastics as a power source. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh are using ionic polymers immersed in a river to generate 'clean' electricity for the city of Vandergrift, Pennsylvania. If the project is successful, the city's downtown 'could one day get 20 percent or more of its electrical power from a mile-long array of tiny plastic devices wiggling away on the bottom of the Kiskiminetas River as it sweeps around the town.' Even if the scientific angle of the story is interesting, the fact that the idea for this project started at a city improvement program instead of a lab is fascinating. But read more...