Scientists discover new way of generating ‘free clean electricity’ using water

A TEAM of scientists has discovered a completely new way to make electricity from nothing more than flowing water, it was revealed yesterday.

The breakthrough, the first new method of electricity production for 160 years, could provide free, clean energy for devices like mobile phones and calculators. On a large scale, it could be used to feed power into the national grid.

Dr David Lynch, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Alberta in Canada, where the technology was developed, said: “The discovery of an entirely new way of producing power is an incredible fundamental research breakthrough that occurs once in a lifetime.”

A “water powered” mobile phone would contain a small reservoir pressurised by a hand pump.

Electricity is generated as the water is released and surges through an array of tiny microchannels. The system relies on the natural “electrokinetic” effect of a fluid flowing over a solid surface.

A minute amount of electricity is generated by one microchannel, but millions of parallel channels can produce enough power to operate electronic equipment.