Humanity’s Next Generation Energy Source May Come From Your Own Backyard

Renewable Energy stream at the Exosphere Academy

Since the dawn of humanity, fire has consistently been an easy and reliable resource to propel us into the future. First we used it to cook our food, allowing our brains access to more nutrients and accelerating our intellectual evolution. Later we used it to form new materials from clay to iron, and now we use it to propel our vehicles. However, while fire is convenient, it is by no means the only option.

In recent years with climate change really starting to rear it’s ugly head, it’s becoming more and more apparent that we need to shift away from fire to better sources of energy. And sure we’ve made some progress with electric cars and heaters becoming more common, but the electricity powering all of our devices still comes from burning carbon. We need a better way of generating our power. Enter microbial fuel cells.

These simple little devices come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and styles and can do so much more than just producing our power:

• You can run them using almost any carbon source.
• If it rots, it can be used as fuel.
• You can use them to desalinate water
• You can use them to generate hydrogen or methane
• You can use them to synthesize drugs for you.
• You can incorporate plants into your design and now you have a literal living solar panel. (The plant captures carbon, deposits some into the soil for the microbes to eat and turn into power. No silicon required and if you use food plants, you get a tasty snack while you’re at it.)

One of the biggest problems with our current power grid, is that none of the energy we produce is stored. If something happens to the power generation facility, we’re all just left without power, cold and in the dark. So we will also explore an up-and-coming technology, supercapacitors.

They are the next generation of batteries that can be made to be completely non-toxic, hold just as much power or more, charge in a fraction of the time, and can’t catch on fire. Best of all, because they’re cheap to make and the materials required are readily available (unlike lithium batteries) they could someday be used to store grid energy for emergency back up.

The Renewable Energy stream will focus on building and designing these amazing devices. To accomplish this, we will explore the latest in nanotechnology and advanced carbon materials. We will learn to rapidly process waste into valuable resources, work with and alter a variety of microorganisms, plants, and fungi, and work with a massive range of materials from glass to wood to metal.

All of these sounds awfully complex stuff for high level biologist, or chemists, or other kind of scientist right? Don’t get scared, at Exosphere Academy we want to make science and big problem solving available for anyone. When we consulted Justin Atkin, the fellow for the stream about the profile of who should apply to the stream he was very clear:

“All are welcome, so long as they are willing to learn and work. No background required.”

And it is no wonder that it is this way. In addition to being a scientist, Justin is a great chef, and not a regular one. He converges the scientific method with his cooking for some awesome results (that you will have the pleasure of enjoying when you are at the Academy).

Justin also really likes cooking shows and this is how he chooses to approach his teaching:

Microbial fuel cells, power generation devices, and supercapacitors are best understood by getting our hands dirty and experimenting with them. This idea of experimenting for yourself is the core of the stream. The majority of our work will be in the form of a workshop or cooking class where you not only see how the concept works but also get a chance to try and troubleshoot on your own. Once the fundamentals are understood we’ll shift away from workshops and more towards true experimentation and product development.

Collaboration between participants won’t just be encouraged, it will be necessary to attain the highest levels of success in the program. While the concepts themselves will be straightforward, the gritty details can be complex and only by working together, asking questions, and chasing the answers will participants succeed.

While there will be some defined projects, these are meant to be used as learning experiences so that participants get a chance to work with exotic materials which they can then use in their own projects.

Some of the most interesting workshops and topics to be addressed during the 8 weeks will be:

• What is a microbial fuel cell and how does it work
• How to construct 3 types of MFCs
• How to make foams, gels, and aerogels (styrene ball/electrolysis, cross linking, soy lecithin, etc)
• Introduction to molecular gastronomy (Hint: it’s yummy!)
• Composting and using microbes to treat waste
• Making plant microbial fuel cells
• Design, construction and testing of supercapacitors
• Introduction to nanoparticles and how can you get the most from them

If you got excited by all of this check out Justin’s invitation to you in the video below and apply now!

The Exosphere Academy program is an 8-week experience to learn new skills, build exciting projects with other dynamic people, and jumpstart your new life & career. Apply for the Renewable Energy stream now!

>>>Learn more about the Exosphere Academy Program here!<<<