Last weekend a colleague built a potato clock with his seven-year-old son. Together they calculated it was generating 5.9 mW DC. If they had eaten the potato, about 100 calories, it would have fuelled them for about 10 minutes pedalling on an exercise bike generating around 100 W. It’s an interesting discussion; eat the potato for a quick fix of energy, or use it electrochemically over days, weeks, or months.
At our IFBF conference this summer we’ll also be discussing quick fixes and longer-term solutions. We want to talk about how batteries – particularly flow batteries – will work with national and international energy targets now, and in the future. And, thinking about young people working on potato powered clocks, we want to meet the new generation of flow battery specialists. To help we will have reduced conference fees for students and academics.
Our call for papers is still open and we already have an interesting mix of proposals from flow battery researchers and experts in the industry. However, we would like more, so we have extended the deadline for submissions to Friday 11th February. Please submit your proposal as soon as possible. We welcome contributions on all aspects of flow batteries. Please see our call for papers for more details.
