Breakthrough Research: Electricity Out of Thin Air (Seriously!)

(The Daily Sheeple) It may sound like something out of a science fiction movie, but you can be assured that the latest breakthrough in energy production from researchers at Duke University is the real deal.

Our modern day world is full of all sorts of devices that transmit signals back and forth. From microwaves and wifi signals to standard radio waves and satellite transmissions, energy is everywhere. This prompted engineering students Alexander Katko and Allen Hawkes to start exploring the possibility of taking these oft lost transmissions and doing something with them.

According to Duke, the two students have successfully constructed a cheap device from  fiberglass and copper energy conductors that – get this – pulls these signals out of thin air and turns them into electricity. The device works much like a solar panel, collecting the signals and then converting them into electricity stored in a battery.

“We were aiming for the highest energy efficiency we could achieve,” Hawkes said. “We had been getting energy efficiency around 6% to 10%, but with this design we were able to dramatically improve energy conversion to 37%, which is comparable to what is achieved in solar cells.” (Computer World)

Though the electricity captured is a relatively minimal 7.3 volts, it exceeds the charge requirements of standard USB charging devices that one might use to recharge a cell phone, giving the device an almost immediate real world consumer application.

Free energy? Where do we sign up, and should we now be worried that corporate energy lobbies and the government will push to tax the air we breathe under the guise of electricity usage fees?

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