Hydrovoltaics for Green Energy Production - I2I Market Assessment

所进行的研究将是对新兴绿色能源技术的市场评估。想象一下，一种利用热能的电源，无论白天还是黑夜，阳光还是黑暗，刮风还是完全平静，都能不断地发电。想象一下，一种技术非常简单，制造成本低廉，几乎不需要维护。不再想象，水力发电就是这种技术。水含有令人难以置信的大量能量，足以满足全球每年能源需求的三倍。然而，目前这种能源很少被利用。近年来，科学家们已经证明，从自然的水蒸发过程中获得持续的能量是可能的。水力发电装置可以克服许多与传统和可再生能源有关的限制。例如，太阳能电池占地面积大，需要阳光来发电。相反，水力发电装置占用很小的面积，可以在全天不同的天气条件下运行，产生与商业光伏相当的功率输出。水力发电可以在任何发生蒸发的地方发电。水力发电装置通过蒸发和毛细管作用驱动的简单水流产生持续的电力。它的蒸发无处不在，持续不断，所以它的发电也是如此。这种简单的发电方式意味着这种装置可以用于在发电困难的地区供电。第一个水力发电装置是在2017年报道的，所以这是一个非常新的领域。从那以后，我们对器件进行了微调，并实现了功率输出提高了三个数量级。然而，虽然现在在功率输出方面具有竞争力（基于设备的相同占地面积），但这并不是故事的结束；研究正在进行，以进一步提高功率输出，能够产生大规模的电力进入电网！

The research undertaken will be a market assessment of an emerging green energy technology. Imagine a power source that harnesses thermal energy, while generating power continuously, regardless of whether it is day or night, sunlight or dark, windy or perfectly calm. Imagine a technology that is incredibly simple and cheap to manufacture and requires little or no maintenance. Imagine no longer, hydrovoltaics is this technology. Water contains an incredible amount of energy, enough to meet the annual global energy demand three times over. Very little of this energy, however, is currently harnessed for use. In recent years, scientists have demonstrated that it is possible to obtain sustained energy from natural water evaporation processes.Hydrovoltaic devices can overcome many of the limitations associated with conventional and renewable energy sources. For example, solar cells have a large footprint and require sunlight to generate power. Conversely, hydrovoltaic devices take up very little area and can function in different weather conditions throughout the day to produce a comparable power output to commercial photovoltaics. Hydrovoltaics can be used to generate power anywhere evaporation is occurring. Hydrovoltaic devices generate sustained power by simple flow of water driven by evaporation and capillary action. TAs evaporation is ubiquitous and continuous, so to is this generation of power.This simplistic power generation means that such devices could be used to supply power in areas where power generation is difficult. The first hydrovoltaic device was reported in 2017, so the field is incredibly new. We have since fine-tuned devices and have achieved power outputs three orders of magnitude higher. However, while now competitive in power output (based on the same footprint of a device) this is not the end of the story; research is being conducted to improve the power output even further, able to generate large scale power into the grid!