Bactery
Summary
They rely on single-use batteries or high-maintenance solar systems.The $10 billion precision agriculture industry is struggling to power the millions of sensors it needs to improve crop yields, reduce costs, and support food security amidst climate change. Farms are usually remote and lacking in energy infrastructure, but sensors reliant on single-use batteries or solar systems are prohibitively expensive because they require maintenance. In one year, a single Bactery can generate the amount of energy stored in ten AA batteriesdouble what a typical sensor requires. Jakub Dziegielowski, Mirella Di Lorenzo, and Benjamin Metcalfe, co-founders of Bactery, have collaborated at the University of Bath for over five years and are considered the worlds top researchers in soil electricity generation. Theyve shown that a Bactery could, eventually, produce up to 4 watts per square meter of soil, promising a future where one-quarter of an average U.S. lot can power an entire home.