by Eva van Loon

A pair of hotshot environmental engineers, Shaoan Cheng and Bruce Logan, have published a study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of economically viable electrohydrogenesis.

No, wait! Don’t go. Don’t glaze over. This could be men at work at their best. This is marvellous, maybe. This bears study. This is something we might be able to use to turn Powell River into a totally self-powered city.

Microbial fuel cells work through the action of bacteria, which can pass electrons to an anode. From the anode, the electrons run through a wire to the cathode—bingo! electric current. Meanwhile, the bacteria munch through organic matter in the biomass material. A jolt of electricity helps generate hydrogen gas at the cathode.

The energy produced is 288 times what goes in. That means 287 chunks of hydrogen energy to power vehicles, homes, you name it. That’s enormously more efficient than ethanol production, and doesn’t steal the corncobs off poor people’s plates. You can use wood chips as biomass, for example. Compost, presumably.

Feasibility study, anybody? I wonder if Canadian Tire would sell backyard reactors….