ALT ENERGY

Researchers develop way to create electricity from water

A University of Alberta research team has discovered an entirely new way of generating electricity by simply directing water at a solid surface. The power created is pollution-free and could one day power small devices such as Palm Pilots or calculators with water batteries, instead of using polluting conventional batteries.
It's the first time someone has been able to discover a new way to generate electricity since1839, when solar power was first harnessed and the first fuel cells were created.
Edmonton-based mechanical engineering professors Daniel Kwok and Larry Kostiuk say they were able to light a small bulb by squeezing a syringe of ordinary tap water through a glass "filter" with microscopic-sized holes.

[See also: Let water power your mobile phone and the abstract of a research paper in the Journal of Micromechanics.]