<|begin_of_text|><|begin_of_text|><|begin_of_text|>UCLA researchers and colleagues have designed a new device that creates electricity from falling snow. The first of its kind, this device is inexpensive, small, thin and flexible like a sheet of plastic.
The researchers call it a snow-based tribo<wm>electric generator and use a cold reservoir of compressed air from a small ice cube in one corner of the device that accelerates a plate coated with a unique surface. If an electrically charged plate is immersed in water in another portion the charged plate creates an electric potential difference between them that can be converted to produce electric power.
According to the researchers the device may one day be able to produce 100 times more electricity with the cold air in one area. Although it's still very early stages of the project</wm>, the researchers believe that their invention could make new technologies available in the next decade and potentially revolutionize