# Electricity Generated By Animals? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 29, 2021, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-generated-by-animals/951588 "2021-09-29T16:50:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2021, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-generated-by-animals/951588/1 "2021-09-29T16:50:06Z")
Clearly I’m missing something here, else someone would have thought of it by now. But if we generate electricity by spinning turbines, then why not, say, hitch up a team of draft horses to a turbine and have them walk around in circles? ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2021, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-generated-by-animals/951588/2 "2021-09-29T16:59:56Z")
Animals in general and horses in particular are very ineffective at energy conversion if you just want to use their muscle strength. Then they sleep for hours every day, take years to grow, fall ill and generally defecate a ton. You’d be better off fermenting what they eat and burning the alcohol in a turbine. This is also more reliable and cheaper. I came here for a discussion about whether it is better to connect the eels in series or parallel circuits. Damn! ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2021, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-generated-by-animals/951588/3 "2021-09-29T17:00:57Z")
[Olympic Cyclist Toasts Bread.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4O5voOCqAQ) ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2021, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-generated-by-animals/951588/4 "2021-09-29T17:15:45Z")
Now, if we had [Superman](https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-07-13), we could talk. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2021, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-generated-by-animals/951588/5 "2021-09-29T17:24:41Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > I came here for a discussion about whether it is better to connect the eels in series or parallel circuits. Damn! I keep wondering as a science fiction scenario if a genetically engineered creature could be made that was a “reverse” electric eel: would feed on electric current and waste matter to grow. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2021, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-generated-by-animals/951588/6 "2021-09-29T17:54:31Z")
Parallel. If it’s in series and one eel dies the whole battery goes down. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2021, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-generated-by-animals/951588/7 "2021-09-29T17:58:21Z")
Eels don’t die, they just reverse the polarity. Come to think of it, this brings the battery down too. OK, parallel then. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2021, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-generated-by-animals/951588/8 "2021-09-29T18:12:27Z")
Animals used to power everything from cooking spits to mills. And there are people using them to provide electric power – here’s a couple of examples; for the first one I only got as far as the abstract, but it’s enough to get the idea: > **[Experimental Study of Micro Industry of Animal Powered Mechanical Device for...](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212017314000711)** > > In this paper authors designed, fabricated, cost estimated and experimentally studied the animal powered mechanical device to establish micro industry… > **[Animal Power Generation - Off The Grid News](https://www.offthegridnews.com/grid-threats/animal-power-generation/)** > > When we look at sustainable, off-the-grid communities, the need for farming and animals becomes more and more apparent. But must these animals be a drain on our already finite resources, let alone our time? For thousands of years, we have... However, as even those point out, these are setups best suited for small scale use by people who already have livestock and who don’t have easy access to other ways of generating electricity. Not really practical to try to power a city, or even most places in rural areas, by such methods. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2021, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-generated-by-animals/951588/9 "2021-09-29T18:33:35Z")
Well, the old version of the SDMB took advantage of this - you’ll see frequent references to the hamsters. Pro: they breed prolifically Con: One hamster can’t produce all that much power; the array of wheels necessary to power the board was enormous, and they don’t live all that long. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2021, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-generated-by-animals/951588/10 "2021-09-29T18:34:07Z")
Draft animals used for labor need, among other things, food, water, rest, health care, and they need to be kept reasonably content to keep working, they aren’t machines. And they create a lot of waste piss and shit that must be dealt with. They wear out too and must be replaced often. So you need some animal husbandry going on too. Feel free to give it a try but you, or someone you employ is going to have a full time job dealing with all the feeding and shit. A lot of shit. The amount of shit from just an average dairy farm will overwhelm a person. They have to keep it in tanks and in my area they get rid of it by spraying it back on the fields as fertilizer. Maybe you can get some low cost energy, but you now have a full time business dealing with shit. A lot of shit. Probably takes up all the energy you created just to deal with the shit. What do you want? A team of oxen or mules? They both have pros and cons, and yes, personalities to deal with. If you want to be a HR manager of really stupid and cranky animals, who shit a lot, go right ahead. Did I mention the shit part? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2021, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-generated-by-animals/951588/11 "2021-09-29T19:23:24Z")
I’ve actually worked on a horse farm. Oh, yes, there are literal tons of shit. But that’s only one part of it. You also need tons of feed going in the other end of the animals. Also, horses (and cows, oxen, donkeys, mules, etc.) are large enough animals that they can hurt or kill you accidentally. One reason the automobile caught on in the early 20th Century is the abrupt reduction in needing to deal with feed, large potentially dangerous animals, and shit. Yes, you can use animals to power things. Our ancestors did so. They also jumped to new technologies fairly quickly when they became available because animal power has its downsides. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2021, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-generated-by-animals/951588/12 "2021-09-29T19:33:43Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > Well, the old version of the SDMB took advantage of this - you’ll see frequent references to the hamsters. > > Pro: they breed prolifically > Con: One hamster can’t produce all that much power; the array of wheels necessary to power the board was enormous, and they don’t live all that long. Dropping the cat behind them tended to help but shortened their lifespan. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2021, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-generated-by-animals/951588/13 "2021-09-29T21:26:13Z")
For the same reasons we now ride motor vehicles instead of horses. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2021, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-generated-by-animals/951588/14 "2021-09-29T21:34:56Z")
Let me just say that keeping a horse is a lot of work that you MUST do daily, even if you only keep one horse. My car and pickup, on the other hand, I can just park for a week or two and they don’t care if I ignore them, and they aren’t harmed by it. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2021, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-generated-by-animals/951588/15 "2021-09-30T10:43:58Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > If it’s in series and one eel dies the whole battery goes down. At least it would be easier to ID a dead eel than the old-style Christmas lights from when I was a kid. Remembering my dad having to try replacing every single light to find which one burned out and killed the whole string. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2021, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-generated-by-animals/951588/16 "2021-09-30T10:59:29Z")
1 horsepower x 10 hours x 50% efficiency = 4 kWh (All of those numbers are wrong) Typical home electricity use is something like 30 kWh per day. I wonder how the energy to produce the feed compares to what the animals can generate. ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2021, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-generated-by-animals/951588/17 "2021-09-30T12:56:29Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > But if we generate electricity by spinning turbines, then why not, say, hitch up a team of draft horses to a turbine and have them walk around in circles? People have already mentioned shit, a lot of it. Feed, a lot of it. I’d also like to add : clearing up forests to grow the feed. A lot of it. Making fertilizers to grow / harvest / process that feed. A lot of it. And lets not forget the shit running into the water and contaminating it. The measures that need to be taken to keep the shit away from water also take time and energy. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2021, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-generated-by-animals/951588/18 "2021-09-30T15:24:41Z")
But we could–if necessary–use genetically resurrected mamoths to tighten springs for clockwork devices. (Let’s see who gets _that_ one!) ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2021, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-generated-by-animals/951588/19 "2021-09-30T17:05:18Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Let me just say that keeping a horse is a lot of work that you MUST do daily, even if you only keep one horse. I had an acquaintance who used to work and run a small family farm for 4 decades and he said dealing with horses was the worst experience of all the livestock he had. You can’t milk them, You can’t butcher them for meat(well technically you could do both but there is not a market in the US for horse milk or meat.) And he said don’t ever agree board another person’s horse for them because a lot of horse people are high maintenance and demanding. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2021, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-generated-by-animals/951588/20 "2021-09-30T19:27:05Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > Parallel. If it’s in series and one eel dies the whole battery goes down. You will have to series them to get 110v, and then parallel those groups to have enough current. We can feed them with guys who don’t pay their electric bill. How about the deal in Gone With the Wind, where prisoners worked at the mill? We can have prisoners walking on tread mills. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electricity-generated-by-animals/951588.md?page=2)