Can lightning be harnessed as an alternate power source?
Capturing the energy of lightning is intriguing, but not yet feasible for several reasons. First, no one knows exactly where to collect lightning as it does not naturally strike specific places more than a few times a year. Next, conventional storage devices for electricity–like a battery–do not accommodate the magnitude and duration of a powerful flash that lasts only fractions of a second. Finally, about half of the energy of a lightning strike dissipates into light, acoustic energy, and electromagnetic waves. There are ongoing studies to explore the use of laser beams to control lightning. It appears possible that a laser beam can be sent into a cloud that’s about ready to generate lightning to “trigger” lightning–and possibly collect its energy in an appropriate storage device.
