Rain Power

In posts last year, I detailed how solar energy is becoming more efficient and how an independent researcher is gathering energy from the wind in tiny increments for individual power sources. Now researchers at the CEA Leti-Minatec in Grenoble, France, have been able to capture energy from rain!

If used in conjunction with solar energy, rain energy can smooth out power generation in rainy/sunny regions. According to Discovery News, "as the drops hit the material, they create vibrations, which creates a charge. The electrodes recover the charge for use as power. Not surprisingly, the largest drops cause the biggest vibrations. The researchers found the system could scavenge 12 milliwatts from the largest drops and generate at least 1 microwatt of continuous power. "

If these systems are refined, rain energy can act as another method to remove our dependence from non-renewable sources.