We are living in dynamic times. Scientists all over the world are looking at ways to harness renewable energy from ocean waves and plants, and the military is even trying to power a jet by using chicken fat.
At USF St. Petersburg, we’re lucky enough to have a group called the Green Energy Living Systems, or GELS. Founded by student Thien-Back Huynh, and with Dr. Joseph Dorsey and Dr. Leon Hardy as the advisors, the program empowers students to take on their own project: to harness energy and see if it could work on a bigger scale.
Last semester as I was leaving my biology lab, I saw Dr. Hardy and a few students using a currency reading instrument and constructing something around a blade of grass. It struck me as a little odd. What could a single blade of grass do? I decided to go in and say hello.
They were trying to create electricity from the microbials in soil. To my surprise, it actually worked. They were able to conduct half a volt of energy from soil!
All GELS group research projects are not only innovative, but revolutionary. All of the 2012 projects have received Center for Science and Policy Applications for Coastal Environments grants.
GELS meets Friday afternoons and provides project ideas for students who are interested in researching and creating systems that produce renewable energy. Huynh is currently looking for someone who will pick up a project that has already received grant money, and takes place at Clam Bayou house, which is near USFSP.
Students will be putting working technologies into a miniature model house built by green architect Sean Williams. They will be working with wiring circuits, hammering/screwing fixtures and embedding piezoelectricity and peltzer devices. Students will gain experience working with a green architect, as well.
Williams has worked on several buildings in the St. Petersburg area, including the new Dali and the Interdisciplinary Science building at the Tampa campus.
It’s a truly inspiring endeavor to have our own USFSP students working on their own renewable energy projects. The world needs clean renewable energy and groups like GELS are getting us one step closer to that goal.
If you are interested in working on this project (or any project), please send an email to: tbhuynh@mail.usf.edu or leonhardy@mail.usf.edu.
lmreilly@mail.usf.edu
