Can muggy air hold electric charge?

New Scientist : At the American Chemical Society’s national meeting this week, Fernando Galembeck from the University of Campinas in São Paulo, Brazil, presented his controversial research on the ability of hot, saturated air to hold a net electric charge. First reported in 1840 by factory workers, the phenomenon of steam electricity may be due to charge build-up between chrome-plated brass tubes and water in the atmosphere. As described by New Scientist‘s Colin Barras, hydrogen ions in the water react with the chrome oxide, leading to an ion imbalance that imparts excess charge onto the metal. Galembeck’s theory that water can store charge could in principle lead to a renewable source of energy, but it violates the long-held principle of electroneutrality. Most researchers remain skeptical.