Scientists in Japan develop Way to Generate Electricity from Snow

At a time when the winter season is still affecting global energy prices, researchers have begun a study in a city in northeastern Japan regarding generating electricity from snow.

The researchers aim to secure a source of renewable energy to meet possible power outages.

The Japanese Kyodo news agency reported that the city of Aomori, which witnesses heavy snowfall annually, began experimenting with a swimming pool in an abandoned elementary school last December to explore the possibility of producing electricity by exploiting the temperature difference between the stored snow and the surrounding air.

Information technology startup Fort Corp and Electro University of Communications in Tokyo are studying powering a turbine with generator power by cooling liquid with stored snow and then evaporating it through ambient air heat.

It is known that generating electricity using stored snow has recently attracted attention as an environmentally friendly, low-cost, and safe energy source.