Earth Battery

There is something called an Earth Battery - see this Wikipedia Article.  Seems the idea has been around for awhile.

Alexander Bain demonstrated this in 1841 when he placed two electrodes in the ground and achieved a potential of 1 volt.  This is explained here at How Stuff Works where they discuss designing a soil powered lamp.

"A much newer approach to the Earth battery uses soil as a more active player in producing electricity. In the case of the microbial fuel cell, it's what's in the dirt that counts"

For the new reader here, this is my experimental blog where at a leisurely pace we investigate the ground beneath us for energy production and similar applications.

Microbial Fuel Cells - Another form of Energy from the Ground

The Microbial Fuel Cell Web Site is here.  The Wiki article here.

A company formed to advance the technology is Keego Tech. 

I'm sure there will many firms coming and going in this area.

Next Energy News

Just what I've been looking for


http://www.nextenergynews.com/index.html

Electricity from the Ground

More energy from the earth.  This time it's biological too.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9809164-7.html

quote from this source:

Here's a renewable energy source most of us haven't thought of: dirt.
 Living Power Systems, a company being spun out of Harvard University, has made a microbial fuel cell that is able to tease a trickle of electricity from garden-variety bacteria in the ground.
The ability to generate a tiny flow of electrons from organic material has been understood for decades and is a staple at elementary school science fairs.
Living Power Systems has developed a system that it says can create a useful amount of power, at least for specialized uses. 

Living Power Web Site

Geothermal Ground Source Explained

Seems like this approach should be exploited more than it is.

This new Blog

This is a new blog where I hope to explore going deep, that is, looking to the ground beneath for help with energy savings and production. We'll see how this goes. The title is also a pun on depth psychology. So there might be some correspondence with my other interests.

Energy Savers: Types of Geothermal Heat Pump Systems

From the energy savers cite at the url below. I have a growing interest in this.
Energy Savers: Types of Geothermal Heat Pump Systems
Open-Loop System
This type of system uses well or surface body water as the heat exchange fluid that circulates directly through the GHP system. Once it has circulated through the system, the water returns to the ground through the well, a recharge well, or surface discharge. This option is obviously practical only where there is an adequate supply of relatively clean water, and all local codes and regulations regarding groundwater discharge are met.

Illustration of an open loop system shows a tube carrying water out of the house, into the ground, and over to a well, where it discharges into the groundwater. A separate tube in a well some distance away draws water from the well and returns it to the house.