Soil can power your home appliances, says scientist

Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 4

The soil in the flower pots or the kitchen garden of your house can provide you not just flowers or vegetables but also electricity. Sounds incredible, but a Punjab-origin Indian physicist, Dr Sunil Kumar, has, while teaming with two Korean partners, proved that it is possible for you to run your home appliances from soil itself.

Dr Kumar, currently working as a Professor in Dongguk University, South Korea, hails from Patiala. Dr Kumar has developed a 24-hour electricity-generating hybrid green energy module from soil. This system generates electricity from microbes in the soil by supplying them food regularly as well as using the electro-chemical approach.

 He said, “The common battery used in mobile phones uses the electro-chemical concept. The microbial produce a natural energy when they eat food. Our model is a marriage of both concepts so that it can be used for home appliance applications. The portable 

power plant system occupies space in your home not more than solar panels or a large-size inverter, he said.

Dr Kumar has along with his partners — Prof TW Kang and Dr HC Jeon — applied for different patents for launching their product. Professor Kang, who is Professor (Physics) with Dongguk University and CEO of the  GTECH company, has funded the whole project.

“Electricity has been generated from soil earlier also. However, it was low, almost negligible on efficiency, with poor sustainability and high cost. However, our system is a giant leap where you can have a round-the-clock supply with high efficiency, longer sustainability and low cost,” he told The Tribune.

This kind of generation is environment friendly and can be used with slight modifications to control water and air pollution. “Water pollution can be controlled by use of industrial or agriculture waste water. Air can be purified by release of more oxygen to the environment by planting any kind of plant in this soil-based system.”

 Dr Kumar did his PhD in physics from Punjabi University, Patiala, in 2004. After his PhD and various teaching and research jobs at Thapar University, Patiala, and MM University, Mullana, he has a postdoctoral experience from National Taiwan University, Taiwan, and was also selected for the prestigious Marie Curie Fellowship in the ICFO, Barcelona, Spain. Since 2013, he is serving as a Professor in Dongguk University, South Korea. He has more than 75 international journal publications and around 70 in national and international conferences.

Dr Kumar migrated to South Korea in 2013 after failing to get a job of his choice in India. “I have tried my best to return to my motherland and 

serve my country in affordable generation of electricity, but no one seems to be interested here. I want to research in India, but the government doesn’t provide the 

environment for it and private institutions want you do a management job along with research, which is not an encouraging scenario.”

24-hour electricity generating hybrid green energy module

Dr Sunil Kumar, currently working as a Professor in Dongguk University, South Korea, hails from Patiala. Dr Kumar has developed a 24-hour electricity-generating hybrid green energy module from soil. This system generates electricity from microbes in the soil by supplying them food regularly as well as using the electro-chemical approach.