Kidney Cells Make Implantable Power Source

Galactic_grub writes "New Scientist has an interesting round-up of patents related to green power technology. The ideas mentioned include an implantable power source made from stacks of kidney cells that could drive implanted devices like pacemakers, a chemical way to purifying hydrogen, a buckyball-based filter for methane fuel cells and an organism that turns grass cuttings (and other bio-waste) into ethanol."

Re:Methanol not Methane!

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not about waste, but "short circuiting" the reaction. Each molecule that crosses the electrolyte will react without passing electrons through the circuit. Current electrolyte membranes are so porous to methanol that the circulating fuel is necessarily dilute - limiting potential output.