Northwestern Team Earns Honorable Mentions in Fast Company’s Innovation by Design Awards
The Terracell leverages the power of soil microbes to generate renewable energy
A Northwestern University-led team of researchers earned honorable mentions in Fast Company’s 2024 Innovation by Design Awards sustainability and student categories for Terracell, a fuel cell that leverages the power of soil microbes to generate energy and supply renewable energy for Internet of Things applications.
About the size of a standard paperback book, the completely soil-powered technology could fuel underground sensors used in precision agriculture and green infrastructure. This potentially could offer a sustainable, renewable alternative to batteries, which hold toxic, flammable chemicals that leach into the ground, are fraught with conflict-filled supply chains and contribute to the ever-growing problem of electronic waste.
The team demonstrated that, not only did Terracell work in both wet and dry conditions, but its power also outlasted similar technologies by 120 percent.