Electricity generation accounts for greater than 50% of total U.S. farm emissions. Renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power are expensive and unreliable. The fuel costs incurred by U.S. farms are offset by supplemental assistance from the government. Particularly attractive are bio-based approaches which use enzymes or entire cells to directly convert renewable compounds into electricity. We show that the predicted power production of our system design should be sufficient to warrant employing this approach in the production of large-scale generators. OBJECTIVES: The electricity used in agricultural operations is typically generated from coal, natural gas, or petroleum. Electricity generation accounts for greater than 50% of total U.S. farm emissions. The fuel costs incurred by U.S. farms are offset by supplemental assistance from the government. Renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power are expensive and unreliable. The proposed bio-fuel cell system would eliminate hazardous emissions and improve the cost and stability of rural energy production alleviating the burden on the government while allowing the farms possible excess electricity to sell. APPROACH: As other researchers study methods to enhance microbial current generation, we have explored alternative electrode constructs to vastly improve the power density of these systems. Furthermore, because of the nature of our system, performance requirements for its components (i.e. electrodes and membranes) are not as strict as for other fuel cell strategies. With our technology, there is no need for a large amount of expensive platinum catalyst or for a high-temperature-operational proton exchange membrane
