Podcast: Can weird tech save the world? how 3 strange innovations are tackling energy, waste, and water
Key Highlights
- Why researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst are proving that even accidents can spark major sustainability breakthroughs
- How Bluewater is reimagining public infrastructure to make sustainability something people can see—and use—every day
- What the Italian Institute of Technology’s latest creation says about how automation can support environmental cleanup
- Why embracing “weird” innovation may be the next step toward a more sustainable manufacturing future
When it comes to sustainability, not every breakthrough looks like a solar panel or an EV. In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Laura Davis explores three unconventional innovations redefining what "green technology" can be—Air-gen, a device that pulls electricity from thin air; Bluewater's rain-powered EV charging hub; and VERO, a robot that cleans up trash. Together, they reveal how weird ideas can inspire real-world change across energy, water, and waste.
Below is an excerpt from the transcript:
Every week, I dig into the odd corners of innovation—the prototypes, the projects, and the problem-solvers who are quietly reshaping industry. And sometimes, the weirdest ideas turn out to be the most important.
In this episode, I’m looking at three unusual inventions—all real, all tested—that challenge how we think about energy, infrastructure, and waste.
And the first one sounds like something pulled straight from a sci-fi novel. Imagine a world where your smartwatch, your environmental sensors, even your off-grid monitoring systems never need charging. Not because they run on solar or motion or heat, but because they literally can pull power out of the air.
It's not science fiction either; it’s Air-gen, which is short for “air-powered generator,” a discovery that came from a research team at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The project was led by electrical engineer Jun Yao and microbiologist Derek Lovley, a research duo who managed to generate a small but continuous electric current using nothing but humidity. And the best part is that the discovery was a total accident.
The duo was originally interested in making a simple sensor for humidity in the air. But a student who was working in the lab forgot to plug in the power. Then they noticed that the device was generating electricity all on its own—no power source, no wires, nothing plugged in.
The team quickly realized what was happening. These nanowires, which are smaller than a thousandth the width of a human hair, were pulling energy from humidity in the air. The water molecules naturally present in the atmosphere were interacting with the nanowires and creating a small but steady electric current. In other words, electricity out of thin air.
Lovley’s side of the story makes it even cooler. He’s the one who originally discovered the microbe called Geobacter in the mud of the Potomac River over 30 years ago. That microbe happens to produce electrically conductive protein nanowires, which became the foundation for Air-gen.
By combining Yao’s background in nanoscale electronics with Lovley’s microbial research, the two figured out how to turn these biological filaments into a renewable energy source that doesn’t rely on sunlight, wind, or even that much humidity.
And that’s what makes Air-gen special—it works indoors, at night, even in dry environments. It’s clean, renewable, and constantly running.
Right now, the prototype can power small devices like sensors and wearables. But the team hopes to scale it up into larger applications—like wall paint that could help power your home, or small patches that keep your phone charged indefinitely.
Yao says this could be just the beginning of a new era of protein-based electronics—using biology, not batteries, to power our future. So it might’ve started with a student forgetting to plug something in. But if Air-gen works the way they think it can, it could change the way we think about energy forever.
About the Podcast
Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast offers news and information for the people who make, store and move things and those who manage and maintain the facilities where that work gets done. Manufacturers from chemical producers to automakers to machine shops can listen for critical insights into the technologies, economic conditions and best practices that can influence how to best run facilities to reach operational excellence.
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About the Author
Laura Davis
Laura Davis is the editor in chief of New Equipment Digest (NED), a brand part of the Manufacturing Group at Endeavor Business Media. NED covers all products, equipment, solutions, and technology related to the broad scope of manufacturing, from mops and buckets to robots and automation. Laura has been a manufacturing product writer for six years, knowledgeable about the ins and outs of the industry along with what readers are looking for when wanting to learn about the latest products on the market.