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Electric Spruce

Wouldn’t it be cool if your Christmas tree could power its own lights?

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are looking into a strange phenomenon that suggests trees can produce their own electricity – at least in small amounts.

Back in 1996, a local inventor brought the idea to Canton, MA-based MagCap Engineering, which produces electrical components for NASA. He discovered that trees could be tapped for small amounts of electricity, about enough to light a small bulb. To prove it’s more than a weird phenomenon, MagCap recruited researchers from MIT. They are hoping to turn this into a source of renewable energy that could be used, for example, on highway lighting.

Skeptics abound, but hope shines bright for the folks at MagCap, which has already undertaken numerous tests to prove the theory. With increased global warming concerns pressuring the market to produce more sources of renewable energy, it seems only fitting to look to the Earth’s natural resources for answers.

To read more about this and other environmental health issues, go to: www.environmentalhealthnews.org, www.ourstolenfuture.org, or www.healthandenvironment.org