We all want the landscapes to be filled with natural trees that provide us clean air to breathe. However, rapid deforestation and industrialization has converted urban centers into concrete jungles where fresh air isn’t common. To replace these natural wonders, scientists over the world have come out with concepts of artificial trees that can generate energy to power our futures. Being eco friendly and clean, these artificial trees can produce electricity without harming the environment. These artificial trees are fitted with nanoleaves that are a combination of nanothermovoltaic and nanopiezo generators which convert the light, heat and wind energy to electricity.
The good
The electricity emanated is not only efficient but also cost effective. The trees could even harvest rainwater when many trees are gathered in a field. These synthetic trees could absorb the rainwater and replenish the underground water table. The trees could also help in lighting up powerful lights or charging your electric car. In places where it could receive direct sunlight and high winds, these artificial trees could manage to work wonders.
The bad
Sometimes, especially with time, these artificial trees could become less efficient than before. As the leaves in these artificial trees are the wind-harvesting/sunlight-gathering/heat-absorbing device they will have certain limitations. These nanoleaves are not as good as collecting sunlight as conventional solar panels as they are made to be environmentally friendly. Moreover, the designers have to come up with sustainable raw materials that can be used to build such trees.
Can this be avoided?
Through judicious use, this problem can be solved. Even if there are no sufficient amounts of winds available, enough sunlight or rainwater can help these artificial trees to continue generating eco friendly electricity.The leaf sizes, in favorable circumstances could be made bigger too to generate more amounts of electricity.
The ugly
Though electricity generated by these artificial trees will be cost effective but the building such trees will be a costly affair. Cleaning them and recycling the absorbent material in the tree filters could be another major problem. Especially as the filters would need regular cleaning so as to remove the carbon deposits that are built up inside everyday. The investment required for buying the sufficient amount of trees to generate green electricity may be huge, and thus could be nonviable for many. Thus, if governments try to use these sort of trees along the roadsides, not only will it incur significant cost on buying the trees but also for maintenance.
