Tiny energy sources have a niche to fill. Think about the minuscule solar panels that power calculators, for instance; that tiny little 0.02W solar cell might be useless for broad-scale deployment, but if you’re instead looking to provide energy to something small and specific in a niche situation, it can be really useful.

I know this article is talking about deploying this on a house scale, and I even bought into that idea (or, rather, a larger one) in a previous comment; but you’re right, this is unlikely to be a good use of resources.

Instead, what about deploying this as the power source for a remote meteorological test rig deep in a rainforest? When the rain falls, it gathers energy to make its measurements, stores some in a battery, and transmits its findings.

Or perhaps deploying it for a small community in a monsoon area which doesn’t rely on much electricity but still needs it for communication in case of emergency. Having a wind, solar, and rain energy collector on it, all feeding a battery, could allow them to have access to emergency services when they otherwise wouldn’t (or when it would otherwise be difficult).

I’m just saying, energy diversification is a good thing.