Fossil fuels are going extinct, leaving a niche that’s quickly being filled by new power-producing technologies. In Norway, osmosis is being used to generate electricity. State-owned utility Statkraft has built the first experimental osmosis power plant south of Oslo on the Oslo Fjord.

It works like this: Osmosis draws fresh water across a membrane to a tank filled with salt water. The moving water spins a turbine, which produces power. Right now the power plant only cranks out enough juice to power a coffee maker, but Statkraft plans to scale up the technology to a real-deal power plant by 2015.

Link to Reuters article