Arm CPU ran on electricity generated by algae for over six months
- Reference: 1652680633
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/05/16/arm_runs_on_algae_electricity/
- Source link:
As explained in a paper titled [1]Powering a microprocessor by photosynthesis , the biochem boffins built an AA-battery-sized device that hosts an algae named Synechocystis that "naturally harvests energy from the sun through photosynthesis."
The boffins found a way to turn that harvested energy into current by using an aluminium anode, and fed it into a board hosting an [2]Arm Cortex M0+ CPU .
[3]
Arm states that device is its most energy-efficient architecture, with one model sipping just 3.8 Microwatts per megahertz.
[4]
[5]
No – this one can't play Doom, or Crysis. Or any game at all, probably.
[6]Arm says microcontroller price hikes helped fuel sales
[7]Off the grid, Day 10: Yandex's only datacenter outside of Russia still running on diesel
[8]Datacenters in Ireland draw more power than all rural homes put together
[9]Arm to IoT devs: Go faster with our pre-made chip subsystems
But the M0+ does do very well in small, embedded devices that need to go a long time between battery changes – a quality that makes it ideal for Internet of Things devices.
Professor Christopher Howe of Cambridge's Department of Biochemistry thinks many of those devices will do best if they can generate their own power, instead of relying on stored power. The Prof pointed out that batteries and solar cells can do the job – but also use rare metals and some nasty chemicals, and eventually wear out.
The biological photovoltaic cell does better by producing power continuously, even in low light or at night-time – the algae it contains apparently keeps processing energy even after the sun has stopped shining.
[10]
The renewable biological photovoltaic cell
image: Paolo Bombelli under [11]CC 3.0
The test unit covered in the paper was deployed in "semi-outdoor conditions under natural light and associated temperature fluctuations." The researchers behind the project said the gizmo also used "common, durable, inexpensive and largely recyclable materials."
Arm Research developed the test chip used in the trial, built the board, and set up the data-collection cloud interface presented in the experiments.
[12]
This one is pure research, without a hint of future productisation. But, as the research points out, humanity plans to deploy a trillion IoT devices in coming decades – ideas on how to do that sustainably are likely to be very welcome. ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2022/EE/D2EE00233G
[2] https://developer.arm.com/Processors/Cortex-M0-Plus
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/edgeiot&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YoIgx9e9es713nVQbuPf9wAAAFQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/edgeiot&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YoIgx9e9es713nVQbuPf9wAAAFQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/edgeiot&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YoIgx9e9es713nVQbuPf9wAAAFQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/13/arm_results_ipo/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/05/yandex_datacenter_in_finland/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/04/datacenters_in_ireland_energy_draw/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/26/arm_to_iot_premade/
[10] https://regmedia.co.uk/2022/05/16/renewable_biological_photovoltaic_cell_powers_arm_cpu.jpg
[11] https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/edgeiot&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YoIgx9e9es713nVQbuPf9wAAAFQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: More reason to relocate server farms
Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase Garbage In, Garbage Out...
Re: More reason to relocate server farms
If the datacentres are hosting Twitter or Facebook then they are already both "sewerage farms" and server farms.
No need to charge your phone any more
> an AA-battery-sized device that hosts an algae named Synechocystis that "naturally harvests energy from the sun through photosynthesis."
just as long as you remember to water it, daily
Re: just as long as you remember to water it, daily
To be fair, that sounds a lot more interesting - and arguably personally satisfying - than "plug it into a charger, daily"
I, for one, welcome our power spweing algal overlords...
... gotta be better than the tyrants and wankers who run our current power production and generation equipment...
Re: I, for one, welcome our power spewing* algal overlords...
Algae are definitely much less tyrannical, I agree.. (Day of the Triffids scenarios excepted)
But sadly, this kind of technology is very unlikely to displace the wankers at Drax et al, because the power output is just too piffling.
The world needs something of the order of 1TW to satisfy its electricity demands. This cell produces about 1 or 2 microwatts.
For those who struggle with orders of magnitude, the difference between a microwatt and a terawatt is "One Billion Billions". So even if with further development, this experimental tech could become a million times more powerful (unlikely) so that you could get one whole Watt out of it (enough to keep a phone charged 24/7) then we'd still need a Trillion of them (almost a thousand per person) to "power the planet".
And when the Aluminium anode material degrades and dissolves, we'd have one hell of a pollution problem, not to mention the energy cost of mining and refining all that aluminium in the first place.
And then there's problem of the triffids.. who will have become our new tyrants.
* FTFY, see icon
Mayb so, but every little step counts, so I applaud this research.
Or..?
Or just use a solar cell and a battery?
Re: Or..?
Solar cells and batteries use some nasty chemicals - (see article).
Re: Or..?
Aluminum can also be fairly nasty? Especially in its large-scale production.
I think it would turn out to be fundamentally impossible for these things to provide the energy for their own manufacture, never mind anything else.
Re: Or..?
ISTR that Aluminium was basically electricity in metal form. The refining and smelting requires planet altering amounts of power. So, um, yeah.
Size matters
Nice accomplishment, but it looks like that algae-cell battery is physically twice as large as a car battery!
Re: Size matters
Read the article - says size of an AA battery.
Re: Size matters
Er, is it?
The article says it is the size of an AA-battery. It has what look like four very small screws holding it together.
(at least it is for 1 microwatt)
Maybe they could make a 1-milliwatt version in the size of a car battery?
Re: Size matters
A car battery would only garner around 5mA at a best case.
A 1m³ block of this stuff would garner around 1.2 amps (based off back of fag packet calculations) ... Which is actually getting towards a useful amount (losses not permitting).
It would mean if I covered my whole back garden with cubes of the stuff, 1 metre deep, I could in theory get about 40ish amps. Imagine if we could covert things like canals over to running on the stuff. That could actually be useful.
So my algae filled pond could probably power a decent sized server...
If your pond was the size of a lake, with a lake-sized aluminum anode just under its surface, then maybe.
More aluminium?
Just toss some more cans empty cans of Stella into the pond. Job done!
MOS Technology?
I'm lichen what you did there
> No – this one can't play Doom, or Crysis. Or any game at all, probably.
Not even Adventure?
Power output is too low
If we're going to go organic to power our IOT doorbells, I suggest a more fruitful line of research may be to look at enclosed centipede treadmills.
* centipede may need food and water and might get a bit tired.
Re: Power output is too low
Research in to use of centipedes concludes "100 legs ought to be enough for anybody"
10 years later, everybody is using millipede treadmills
More reason to relocate server farms
To sewerage farms.
Cooling and energy?