Citation: Marchiori, L.; Morais, M.V.; Studart, A.; Albuquerque, A.; Andrade Pais, L.; Ferreira Gomes, L.; Cavaleiro, V. Energy Harvesting Opportunities in Geoenvironmental Engineering. Energies 2024, 17, 215. https://doi.org/10.3390/en17010215 Academic Editor: Vedran Mrzljak Received: 10 November 2023 Revised: 16 December 2023 Accepted: 26 December 2023 Published: 30 December 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). energies Review Energy Harvesting Opportunities in Geoenvironmental Engineering Leonardo Marchiori 1,2,3 , Maria Vitoria Morais 1,2,3 , André Studart 1,2,3 , António Albuquerque 1,2,3 , Luis Andrade Pais 1,3 , Luis Ferreira Gomes 1,3 and Victor Cavaleiro 1,3, * 1 Civil Engineering and Architecture Department, University of Beira Interior, Fonte Calçada do Lameiro, 6201-001 Covilhã, Portugal; leonardo.marchiori@ubi.pt (L.M.); vitoria.morais@ubi.pt (M.V.M.); andre.studart@ubi.pt (A.S.); antonio.albuquerque@ubi.pt (A.A.); ljap@ubi.pt (L.A.P.); lmfg@ubi.pt (L.F.G.) 2 FibEnTech, Faculty of Engineering, University of Beira Interior, 6201-001 Covilhã, Portugal 3 GeoBioTec, Faculty of Engineering, University of Beira Interior, 6201-001 Covilhã, Portugal * Correspondence: victorc@ubi.pt Abstract: Geoenvironmental engineering involves defining solutions for complex problems, such as containment systems management, contaminant transport control, wastewater management, remediation of contaminated sites and valorization of geomaterials and wastes. In the last years, energy harvesting (EH)—or energy scavenging—methods and technologies have been developed to reduce the dependence on traditional energy sources, namely fossil fuels, and nuclear power, also responding to the increase in energy demands for human activities and to fulfill sustainable development goals. EH in geoenvironmental works and the surrounding soil and water environment includes a set of processes for capturing and accumulating energy from several sources considered wasted or unusable associated with soil dynamics; the stress and strain of geomaterials, hydraulic, vibrations, biochemical, light, heating and wind sources can be potential EH systems. Therefore, this work presents a review of the literature and critical analysis on the main opportunities for EH capturing, accumulating and use in geoenvironmental works, among basic electric concepts and mechanisms, analyzing these works in complex conditions involving biological-, chemical-, mechanical-, hydraulic- and thermal-coupled actions, concluding with the main investigation and challenges within geoenvironmental aspects for EH purposes. Keywords: environmental engineering; geotechnics and geoenvironmental energy; geoenergy; energy harvesting; environmental impact 1. Introduction Energy demands and environmental concerns have been witnessing a significant paradigm shift towards sustainable practices. At the same time, urbanization and world population growth have been demanding more energy to attend to society’s necessities. In order to attend to both, a change in the political aspect is necessary to help develop new green technologies and turn them into feasible energy-production activities [1]. For instance, energy harvesting (EH) is one innovative conjunction of techniques and applica- tions [2] where the inherent energies from different sources are tapped to generate power while promoting eco-friendly solutions, also within the scope of the Sustainable Goals Development Agenda for 2030 [3]. Cao et al. [4] defined EH as primordial in the new era of the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) for a smarter and sustainable world. Other digital systems, such as sensors, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and robots can benefit from EH sources. Furthermore, R. Perez and M. Perez [5] compared the world’s reserves in TW/year for renewable and finite energies; for finite ones with 900 TW, coal has the highest quantities, followed by uranium, petroleum and natural gas representing still a great amount when paying attention to 16 TW/year world utilization. In addition, although finite resources Energies 2024, 17, 215. https://doi.org/10.3390/en17010215 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/energies