MIT's Energy Harvester Makes Electricity from Vibrations

The world is going the silicon way, with the increasing use of wireless equipment for remote sensing and data collection equipment in various industries; the problem that arises is the replacement of the batteries in the equipment, especially when the site is in remote and inaccessible locations like Oil pipelines, industrial machinery and bridges. 

The best solution to the problem is to harness the energy around the equipment itself;  like ambient light, electromagnetic radio-waves which are almost everywhere these days and mechanical vibrations. Mechanical vibration energy is pretty significant in industrial machinery, pipelines and bridges.

Harnessing the vibration energy could make replacing batteries redundant.

Oyster, Wave Energy Project

Wave/Tidal energy is something which has a huge amount of energy stored in it but its not been harnessed on a large scale till now. Now a company by the name  Aquamarine Power  has developed a power plant by the name Oyster. Its a pretty simple idea so to say but its very effective.

The device is a pretty simple hydraulic pump which is connected to a wide hinged flap.The hinged flap moves along with the waves in the sea, thus creating a movement in the hydraulic piston; this pumps the water through underground pipes to electric turbine where it is converted into useful electricity.The oyster is attached at the sea  bed and pops 10mts above water.