Glinting in the night, halfway up a hill in Japan, the greenhouse-like Ku-An test lab is lit by electricity harnessed from 1,500 wooden boxes of soil and compost.Designer Satoshi Nakagawa has long battled sceptics, but believes that the technology powering the 800 LEDs has a role to play in solving

HITACHI-OTA, Aug 6 — Glinting in the night, halfway up a hill in Japan, the greenhouse-like “Ku-An” test lab is lit by electricity harnessed from 1,500 wooden boxes of soil...

A Japanese designer has developed a technology that generates tiny amounts of electricity from everyday materials such as soil, water, food and construction waste.