Tree Power Could Protect Forests From Fires

by Amy Judd | October 1, 2008 at 01:21 pm

526 views | 2 Recommendations | 18 comments

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have created a company, Voltree, that literally taps into the tiny electrical current that is carried in trees, and have designed a way to use it as a power source.

"People have known about this phenomena for many years and have tried to explain it by various exotic mechanisms," said Andreas Mershin, a postdoctoral researcher at MIT who is involved in the research.

"But the cause of it is a simple pH difference between the tree and the soil," said Chris Love, a senior in chemistry at MIT and Vice President of Voltree.

Working with the U.S. Forest Service, Voltree has created cheap sensors that use tree power to monitor temperature and humidity conditions inside forests. The goal is to give forest managers and firefighters better tools to predict and monitor fires.

The greater the difference between the soil's PH and the tree's PH, the greater the electrical current will be.
It is not much of a current right now, but Voltree, is a cheap tree-powered sensor that monitors temperature and humidity inside a forest and data would bounce from one sensor to another until it reached a monitoring station, about how much heat was in the forest, potentially predicting a forest fire.

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tobybear

at 14:40 on October 1st, 2008

Photo taken by:

http://flickr.com/photos/14031274@N07/

tobybear has contributed a photo to this story.

Jay Arpin

at 15:09 on October 1st, 2008

Shot in Thunder Bay, ON - ( Canada ).

Jay Arpin has contributed a photo to this story.

seamesse

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 15:03 on October 1st, 2008

amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Random Tree

at 15:44 on October 1st, 2008

Just another green, growing tree in the woods, with the blue and white sky of a very nice day above it.

Random Tree has contributed a photo to this story.

Random Tree

at 15:45 on October 1st, 2008

A maple tree in the woods, seen from below - it was a nice clear day.

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dr_scud

at 16:46 on October 1st, 2008

On a hiking trail in Acadia National Park, Mt. Desert Island, Maine.

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Akira Ikari

at 17:19 on October 1st, 2008

I took this picture in Extrema, a small city located in Minas Gerais State, Brazil. I was very impressed with the fog and the trees, something that scared me but at the same time it looked like a Heaven.

Akira Ikari has contributed a photo to this story.

sadouthitt

at 19:17 on October 1st, 2008

:) the power of trees!

Indiana Dunes State Park
Chesterton, Indiana

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Maltese Rose

at 20:44 on October 1st, 2008

I got some great pix of trees, redwoods in particular, when I visited the Big Basin in California in 2003.

You can see the rest of them at flickr : http://tinyurl.com/4zb5a9

Maltese Rose has contributed a photo to this story.

patchworkbunny

at 23:04 on October 1st, 2008

The New Forest, Hampshire, England. Copyright Ellie Warren 2008.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/patchworkbunny/2905536450/

patchworkbunny has contributed a photo to this story.

-BlueBird-

at 00:34 on October 2nd, 2008

Taken on my trip to Estonia
By:
http://flickr.com/photos/30959744@N03/

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guida_medlam

at 00:50 on October 2nd, 2008

Meandering around on a trip to New Orleans, I came across these magnificent oak trees. This shot was taken before hurricane Katrina.

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cifat

at 02:47 on October 2nd, 2008

cifat has contributed a photo to this story.

stevevdp3

at 03:23 on October 2nd, 2008

i was doing a charity walk on sunday the 28/9/08 in nailsworth for mengitus. it was a gruling 21 mile course and i took this oppertunity to take sum photos with my phone =) im a keen photographer in the making and would hope to go somewhere with it one day but at the moment im just glad im recognised as a talented photographer =)
this picture was in standish wood.
i hope you can spare a minute to have a look at my other pictures at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27317714@N08/

=D Steve =D

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Dr Feelgood ®

at 05:46 on October 2nd, 2008

Dr Feelgood ® has contributed a photo to this story.

casbitner

at 09:56 on October 4th, 2008

A serene forest i took a stroll through a while back.

www.casbitnerphotography.com

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orignl4mula

at 07:28 on October 8th, 2008

This forest is down the street from my home. I was walking the rustic path instead of the paved path and let me tell you, the misquotes were awful that day. The way the sun peered through the trees I liked what my eye saw and I took the shot!

orignl4mula has contributed a photo to this story.

redhooded

at 14:40 on October 12th, 2008

We found a great loop up in to Forest Park (Portland, OR's backyard) and back down through the hills. It's beautiful in there. Such a lush green escape from the city.

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