Harnessing Microwave Energy

Usually the first, and only thing that comes to mind when you think about your microwave is that it will heat up your food quickly, so you can eat it when you're ready to. This may not be the only function you think of when you hear the word "microwave" much longer, these kitchen appliances may also be used to charge your phone in the future. Research is being done in Tokyo Japan to make this far fetched idea into reality.

At first, a microwave that charges your phone seems a little ridiculous, but most people don't know that a microwave emits a lot of wasted energy, that could potentially be used for something like keeping your phones battery charged. A man name Yoshihiro Kawahara is leading a team of researchers that are designing a device that can harness and recycle all of that wasted energy and use it for practical things like charging smaller batteries in other devices. This idea was inspired by NASA's attempt at harnessing waste energy produced by the sun and using it as yet another alternative energy source.

Although we probably won't see this phone charging microwave in the immediate future due to regulations on how much energy microwaves are allowed to emit, the advancements are definitely something that can be used in many beneficial ways. As this technology is updated it will absolutely help people easily reduce their carbon footprint by recycling a lot of energy, that is usually considered to be wasted. I know that I personally feel like this is a great idea, and as it is refined it will dramatically decrease the amount of energy we waste on a daily basis.