Blog Post
The 'living bricks' that generate energy and tell you if they are happy
CGTN • Feb 19, 2021
Imagine living in a home that has bricks that provide renewable energy and can tell you how happy they are. It's a prospect that may not be far off.
Scientists have already made a prototype of the "living bricks," as an environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels.
The Active Living Infrastructure: Controlled Environment (ALICE) consortium has created a living, breathing, energy-generating microbial system that powers homes while talking to you through augmented reality.
It has been designed so it can let you know how productive and happy it is.
The basis of the prototype are the living bricks that can form walls and buildings. They contain microbes that use liquid waste to generate electricity and clean water.
Professor Rachel Armstrong of Newcastle University, who coordinates the ALICE project, said urine and grey water is collected and enters into a settlement tank.....
.....The living bricks be available within three years, hopes the ALICE consortium, which includes the University of the West of England and Translating Nature as well as Newcastle University.
"We are currently looking at a commercialization schedule but anticipate its availability in two to three years," added Armstrong.
BRL Research: Bristol BioEnergy Centre (BBiC)
