Ask HN: Practicality of harnessing geomagnetic fields for electrical generation?

Years ago I would have asked this on the 'Overflows. Alas, those innocent days are long gone. I could always ask AI, but how can you know?

The Earth produces a moving magnetic field (small teslas, but large extent yes?). Moving magnetic fields produce electrical current, right? Could you add "geomagnetic power" to other clean/renewable sources with the right technical solution, or is it fundamentally impossible?

4 points | by keepamovin 1 day ago

3 comments

  • gcheong 1 day ago
    It's apparently been done, but the amount generated was very small and it's not clear it could be scaled up to any useful amounts.

    https://spectrum.ieee.org/earths-magnetic-field

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    • keepamovin 1 day ago
      Excellent! I like it when experimentalists and technologists prove some significant set of theoreticians wrong!
    • sloaken 1 day ago
      Interesting read, thank you for finding it.
  • sloaken 1 day ago
    This seems like a very obvious solution. But of course I am ignorant on electricity generation and or the physics involved. I am hopeful someone will enlighten us.
  • keepamovin 11 hours ago
    Really hoping for some better, first-principles or technically comprehensive answers here from the HN hive-mega-mind....sigh. And I wasn't the only one... I reckon nobody gives out expertise for free these days, myself included, so I understand y’all’s reluctance. Double heavy sigh.