Breakthrough to Clean Affordable Energy for the Planet
MIT's Discovery Brings the Reality of Non-Fossil Energy Sources One Step Closer
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced on July 31, 2008 that through a research project they have been working on as part of the MIT Energy Initiative that "the key to plentiful solar power is water" (Storing Solar Energy in H20 July 31, 2008).
Daniel Nocera, the Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy at MIT and his colleague, Matthew Kanan, a postdoctoral fellow in Nocera's lab were inspired by the photosynthesis of plants. Working together, they developed a process that will allow the energy of the sun to be used to split the hydrogen and oxygen molecules of water. These gases can then be stored for later sue when the two are re-combined inside a fuel cell.
This process with create the electricity to your home or car, all without a single use of carbon-and regardless of weather conditions.
The concept is a "closed-loop system: running the hydrogen and oxygen through the fuel cell creates water, which can be captured and used again" (Storing Solar Energy in H20).
The key component in the new process is a new catalyst; this catalyst produces oxygen gas from water while another catalyst produces the hydrogen gas. Nocera explained the new catalyst as consisting of "cobalt metal, phosphate and an electrode, placed in water. When electricity-whether from a photovoltaic cell, a wind turbine or any other source-runs through the electrode, the cobalt and phosphate form a thin film on the electrode, and oxygen gas is produced" ('Major Discovery' From MIT Primed to Unleash Solar Revolution July 31, 2008).
Explaining that this new catalyst works in "everyday" conditions: at room temperature, in neutral pH water, and is easy to set up, Nocera asserted his belief that the new process will work because it's easy to implement ('Major Discovery' From MIT Primed to Unleash Solar Revolution).
While this discovery doesn't answer all the questions for practical use of solar/wind power, it is an important breakthrough that gives hope that affordable, clean energy will be available to people around the world within the next decade.
The project was funded by a mixture of sources: the National Science Foundation and the Chesonis Family Foundation.
Nocera related that his colleagues in the electrical and mechanical engineering departments at MIT have committed to working with the research from this breakthrough.
Resources: 'Major Discovery' From MIT Primed to Unleash Solar Revolution; A. Trafton; MIT News; July 31, 2008 http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008
Storing Solar Energy in H20; CBS News; July 31, 2008 http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/31/tech/cnettechnews
Published by L.L. Woodard
Freelance writer/editor and freelance observer of life. Three decades of nursing experience in long-term care, from development of team care planning to hands-on patient care. View profile
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5 Comments
Post a CommentAnother excellent article, LL. I guess a lot of things haven't been thought through, as with biofuels. We'll get there in the end.
Go green or go home!
Very interesting. I lived in a house in Europe that was heated with geothermal heat. I liked it, but we could not have carpet. That was fine with me. I liked the tile floors and the Oriental rugs. We definitely need alternative sources of energy.
This continues to be a problem, but thankfully not the same sort of problem it was in the 1970s. Most renewable forms of energy have issues with being not "on-demand."
Fascinating!