Forests to Serve as Fire Sentinels

Researchers at MIT’s Center for Biomedical Engineering have discovered that trees carry an electric charge due to a difference in acidity between the tree and the soil it sits in. This electrical charge can be harnessed to power a web of sensors designed to measure temperature and humidity and broadcast the data from tree-to-tree.

Current Forest Service fire sensors are spread too widely to cover all localized temperature and humidity changes. A network of existing trees can be used to fill in gaps where needed without the use of additional batteries.

This is truly green technology that supports itself. Using nature to work with us without destroying any of it.

The group's results were published in the science journal Public Library of Science One (PLoS ONE), and they’ve already started a commercial company to develop the sensors that can harness that tree-power. The sensor network, being developed by Voltree Power, is slated to begin in spring 2009 on a 10-acre plot of land provided by the Forest Service. The coverage area would consist of four trees per acre.

Sensing changes in climate could also give advanced warnings of severe weather, or the sensors could be altered to detect human activity in off-limits areas, or smuggling activity.