Okay so killing insects is somewhat of an odd “green” thing. But the other night we just wanted to zonk out in front of the TV. An episode of “Wallace & Gromit’s World of Invention” was on. I have to admit I was pretty skeptical about stop motion animation trying to be educational.
But I was wrong.
We were shown an insect powered clock. Now obviously clocks don’t use that much power. But still seeing a very large fly paper feeding insects into something that is supposedly a battery was a little on the mind blowing side. Not because we have a huge need for a battery powered clock. But what we do have here in Spain is far too many flies. And knowing they might be put to use is intriguing.
Now obviously I am more concerned that a battery 
that uses life to create electricity puts us into the whole futuristic worry of machines taking over and powering themselves by using us as a food source. Years of reading too much sci-fi can really make you paranoid!
What has worried me even more is that this insect powered clock has been known about for ages. There are loads of articles about it from summer 2009. Why did it take a plasticine Northern guy and his dog to tell me there might actually be a benefit to having tons of flies around? I really wouldn’t want to be the one that has to clean it out though!
I doubt we’ll be able to give up on the solar panels any time soon, but who knows what the future will bring…
Yesterday the flies were driving us all mad (we had friends to lunch) because the sun was hot and there was no wind. We could have done with a machine to turn them all into energy! We did actually watch the programme, there are some very interesting items on it.
I’ve seen a lot of crazy things but I had no idea something like this even existed. And how did those two gentlemen come up with the idea of using flies to power a fuel cell in the first place. Crazy, but cool. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. I always learn something on your site.
Yeah cool huh – probably pointless at the moment, but cool nonetheless!
No flies on you Mrs D.B eh? We get tonnes here thanks to all the livestock in surrounding fields, their drawn like flies to **** of course! Glad to know I’m not the only one who had a misspent childhood reading SF. Great ideas from Lancashire cheese lovers as always, thanks for making the net a more interesting place.
Aw shucks goo – ta very much!