Singapore’s Rain-to-Power Idea Is Small, Strange, and Surprisingly Serious

Dear Cherubs, Singapore’s rain-harvesting researchers have found a way to turn falling droplets into electricity, which is the kind of sentence that sounds half like science and half like a fever dream. According to the American Chemical Society, the team used rain-sized droplets in a vertical tube to create a plug-flow pattern of water and air pockets, and that movement separated electrical charge as the water traveled downward.

THE THING WITH RAIN

The setup is refreshingly low-drama for a clean-energy experiment: a metal needle, a small tower, a narrow polymer tube, and water that falls in droplet form instead of a steady stream. When the droplets collide at the top of the tube, they form short columns of water with air gaps between them, and that odd little arrangement turns out to be the whole trick. ACS reports that the system converted more than 10% of the water’s energy into electricity, while Euronews noted that the setup was powerful enough to light 12 LEDs for 20 seconds.

That is not grid-scale power, obviously. Nobody is cancelling the national utility just yet, and your toaster is safe for another day. But the result matters because many earlier water-harvesting approaches struggled with tiny outputs, especially when water had to be pumped through very small channels. The ACS coverage says this plug-flow method generated five orders of magnitude more electricity than continuous stream flow, which is a very scientific way of saying the old setup was, frankly, not pulling its weight.

WHY IT MATTERS

The appeal here is not that rain is secretly a new coal seam. It is that cities already have rooftops, gutters, and drainage systems, so a technology that can harvest energy from rainfall without needing a dam could fit urban spaces much better than traditional hydroelectric infrastructure. ACS says the researchers see the approach as potentially simpler to install and maintain than large hydro systems, and they specifically point to rooftops as a practical future use.

There is still a gap between “cool lab result” and “your building now powers itself every stormy Thursday.” The researchers tested rain-like droplets that moved more slowly than actual rain, so real-world scaling will have to prove the idea can survive wind, weather, maintenance, and the usual joyless paperwork that greets every promising energy invention. Still, the concept has a rare bit of charm: rain, the thing usually blamed for wet socks and delayed commutes, may end up earning its keep.

So no, this is not the moment when rainy cities become free-energy theme parks. But it is a genuinely interesting step toward turning a nuisance into a resource, and that is a lot better than letting all that falling water do absolutely nothing except ruin your hair.

Sources:
American Chemical Society press release — https://www.acs.org/pressroom/presspacs/2025/april/a-step-toward-harnessing-clean-energy-from-falling-rainwater.html
ACS Axial — https://axial.acs.org/energy/harvesting-clean-energy-from-rainwater-using-plug-flow
ACS Central Science research article — https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acscentsci.4c02110
Euronews — https://www.euronews.com/2025/04/17/clean-energy-from-rain-scientists-generate-electricity-from-falling-droplets
Unsplash image — https://unsplash.com/photos/a-black-and-white-photo-of-rain-drops-on-a-window-rrd-KVjmlfo

Electricity Generation in Kyrgyzstan Stagnates as Demand Surges

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://timesca.com/electricity-generation-in-kyrgyzstan-stagnates-as-demand-surges/

There is consternation amongst many about the cost of #Energy, particularly #Electricity in the #UK. However, it should be noted that the price of electricity per MWh has dropped by £19.20 per MWh since the beginning of the year, Also, looking at prices over the past ten years, there were truly outrageous betwee 2021 and 2023 when, at one point, prices peaked at £580 per MWh. Compared to that, the trend recently has been quite steady.

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom/electricity-price

#UK #ElectricityGeneration

Here's How #Japan Is Turning #Footsteps Into #Electricity

By Samyak Goswami, Aug. 16, 2025 6:15 pm EST

Excerpts: "While Japan's implementation of #piezoelectric tiles is new, the underlying technology itself dates back to the late #19thCentury. The Curie brothers discovered that pressing substances like quartz, topaz, sugarcane, and more induced a voltage across the substance, known as the piezoelectric effect. The converse is also true, as piezoelectric materials also change shape or vibrate when an electric current is passed through them. Due to these properties, piezoelectric substances find use in numerous applications like quartz watches, sonars, and electricity-producing sidewalks. Common kitchen lighters, too, use a piezoelectric material to produce their characteristic spark from the pressure applied to the trigger.

"Piezoelectric substances generally produce a low voltage that depends on various factors. Japan's implementation of the piezoelectric sidewalk generated around 0.1W of power when a 60kg person stepped on a tile, back in 2008. The power from one footstep isn't substantial, but the figure quickly grows when millions of people take a step in crowded places like Tokyo's Shibuya Station. Moreover, the technology has evolved, and more efficient tiles can generate up to 30W of power with each step."

[...]

"The biggest roadblock that has limited piezoelectric tiles to niche applications is the high upfront cost associated with them. The cost depends on their efficiency and can range from $50 to $100. Installing a wide network of such tiles over a large area can quickly shoot up the initial investment. However, research shows that crowded areas such as subway stations are best suited for piezoelectric tiles, despite the high cost. A 2017 research even claimed that these tiles can result in up to 99.93% lower cost of electricity over the tile's lifespan, taking Cairo's busting Elshohadaa station as an example.

"That said, low power output is another big factor that makes piezoelectric tiles economically unfeasible. Conventional renewable energy sources, like solar panels, have evolved over time and can generate more electricity at a much lower cost. Additionally, power generation takes a nosedive in lightly populated areas, restricting the technology to only a few busy spaces. Moreover, higher maintenance costs and frequent repairs due to enormous stress in crowded areas are other factors stopping piezoelectric tiles from becoming mainstream. That said, a high-output tile with greater durability could make its adoption economically feasible in the future."

Read More: https://www.slashgear.com/1937672/how-japan-generating-electricity-with-piezoelectric-sidewalks-explained/

#SolarPunkSunday #SolarPunk #FootTraffic #ElectricityGeneration #19thCenturyTechnology #TechnologyAdaptation

Thorium Reactors: A Promising Future for Sustainable Nuclear Energy

In a Thorium Reactor thorium-232 (Th-232) is used in place of uranium-235 (U-235) or plutonium-239 (Pu-239) as the fertile material. When bombarded by neutrons in a nuclear reactor, Th-232 absorbs a neutron and transmutes into uranium-233 (U-233).

Thorium Reactor- https://timessquarereporter.com/business/the-promise-of-thorium-reactors-for-clean-and-sustainable-energy

#CoherentMarketInsights #LiquidFluorideThoriumReactor #ElectricityGeneration #IndiaThoriumDevelopment #Sustainable&CleanEnergy

The use of #coal in #ElectricityGeneration in #Indonesia and the #Philippines reached a record nearly 62 per cent share in 2023, with no sign of slowing down – despite both countries having abundant #SolarPower and #WindPower potential. #ClimateChange

Coal use reaches record in Indonesia and Philippines, endangering #ClimateGoals: Study
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/coal-use-reaches-record-in-indonesia-and-philippines-endangering-climate-goals-study

Home batteries get New Zealand over power shortage

https://venera.social/display/85a863ed-8666-418c-1543-76c966694203