The technology of producing electricity from dirt was re-invented back in 2008 by a group of Harvard scientists in order to compete for a project that was looking for a safe, reliable, economical and practical solution to power up thousands of houses in Africa that were without electricity. The team ended up winning the project and are now implementing it various part of Africa with the financial backup of various organizations.
Producing electricity from dirt or soil is achieved by assembling "dirt batteries". These are simple cells that comprise dirt, combined with zinc and copper. Copper and zinc electrodes react with the ions in soil which is what generates the usable electricity.
A standard dirt battery, similar to the size of a 300ml can of soft drinks, will have the capacity to power up LED lights or even charge a mobile phone. They are ideal to power up electric equipment that consume low amounts of electricity. Depending on your creativity and knowledge on the subject you can build batteries large enough to power other equipment that consume more electricity. Knowing how to build a dirt battery can also come in handy if you are the type of person who is into camping or exploring the wild.
The idea of producing electricity from dirt has now reached DIY electricity enthusiasts and individuals who strive to adopt new methods in order to live a sustainable life. Since set up costs are very low, and the materials needed to build a dirt battery can almost be found for free more people are taking up the task to build these dirt batteries to reduce their dependency on the electricity grid.
The technology of generating electricity from dirt, at its current state of development cannot be considered as a direct substitute for other electricity generators such as solar panels and wind turbines since building batteries large enough to power up an entire house does not seem practical to most.
However, they can certainly help a household to reduce the electricity consumption and carbon footprint and also be a viable solution for electricity at an emergency situation.