Where freshwater meets saltwater, Aleksandra Radenovic, a nanoscientist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, sees a wold of untapped renewable energy. She published the schematics of a brand new type of flat, membrane-like power generator. The generator siphons energy from the process of osmosis—when the salts in salty water spread out evenly into freshwater though a membrane. Only three atoms wide at its thinnest point, the generator could be used in places like river mouths and estuaries, or other locations where waters of different salinities constantly mix. Radenovic says the electric promise of her generator could be enormous. She estimates that just a three foot square made of her flat device could theoretically produce an entire megawatt of power. That's enough juice to run 50,000 energy-saving light-bulbs. http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a21816/tiny-power-generator-osmosis/
