Fossil fuels are not a sustainable energy source. We need things that will renew themselves over time. Sometimes there’s success in even the most outlandish of ideas like combining mushrooms and bacteria to create electricity.

Scientists from the Stevens Institute of Technology used 3D printing, bacteria and mushrooms to create a tiny power source. The cyanobacteria produces some power and occurs naturally all over the place. The problem is that is dies pretty quickly on synthetic surfaces. Turns out the common mushroom is the perfect house for it.

Using a small cap, they attached the bugs to the mushroom and were able to generate a small amount of electricity. Like really small. You would need several of these setups to power a lamp but the idea has some merit and with further study, maybe we’ll see mushroom farms powering our homes and business in the future.