Via the MIT News …
Why is this not front-page headline news all over the world ?
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‘Major discovery’ from MIT primed to unleash solar revolution
Scientists mimic essence of plants’ energy storage system
Anne Trafton
July 31, 2008In a revolutionary leap that could transform solar power from a marginal, boutique alternative into a mainstream energy source, MIT researchers have overcome a major barrier to large-scale solar power: storing energy for use when the sun doesn’t shine.
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Requiring nothing but abundant, non-toxic natural materials, this discovery could unlock the most potent, carbon-free energy source of all: the sun. "This is the nirvana of what we’ve been talking about for years," said MIT’s Daniel Nocera, the Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy at MIT and senior author of a paper describing the work in the July 31 issue of Science. "Solar power has always been a limited, far-off solution. Now we can seriously think about solar power as unlimited and soon."
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The new catalyst works at room temperature, in neutral pH water, and it’s easy to set up, Nocera said. "That’s why I know this is going to work. It’s so easy to implement," he said.
Sunlight has the greatest potential of any power source to solve the world’s energy problems, said Nocera. In one hour, enough sunlight strikes the Earth to provide the entire planet’s energy needs for one year.
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Nocera hopes that within 10 years, homeowners will be able to power their homes in daylight through photovoltaic cells, while using excess solar energy to produce hydrogen and oxygen to power their own household fuel cell.
Electricity-by-wire from a central source could be a thing of the past.
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Tags: Wow !
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I have seen models (somewhere) that small scale generation of power could feed into the grid (we could sell back to the national grid).
For countries without sufficient electricity, the development of solar power could be liberating.
Solar power and mobile phones make a huge difference to empowering people.
If solar power takes off, shall we bet on Bangladesh figuring out the business model as in Gameen and their mobile phone networks?
I’m not sure I get what the breakthrough is. Using solar energy to split it in oxygen and hydrogen is of course not new (any fuel cell runs both ways essentially). The prob with hydrogen is always storing the hydrogen. Not the production of it. So I think I am misreading this article, or the writer combines two things that are not related to the actual breakthrough (storage and hydrogen).
Real big breakthroughs in photo voltaics would be 1) in the yield of any photovoltaic set up (a little under 5 sq. meter soaks up enough sun for our household, but currently I need some 35 to 40 sq meter in panels for that.) 2) in the production of photovoltaic material. (solar panel production is basically still an energy-sink, i.e. it costs more energy to produce a panel than it will generate in its lifetime)
The article speaks of a breakthrough in ‘storing’ solar energy, and then continues about hydrogen production made easy. Hydrogen has nothing to do with the way the energy is produced to make it, so no relation to solar. Hydrogen’s problem is storage.
So is this a breakthrough in storing solar energy BEFORE producing the hydrogen at the time of using the hydrogen as energy source? That would be major, yes. But I don’t read that in the article.
Yes, Ton ..
I understand that hydrogen storage is a key issue. What I noted in the article was the breakthrough in “mimicking” photosynthesis such that …
The new catalyst works at room temperature, in neutral pH water, and it’s easy to set up, Nocera said. “That’s why I know this is going to work. It’s so easy to implement,” he said.
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‘Just the beginning’
Currently available electrolyzers, which split water with electricity and are often used industrially, are not suited for artificial photosynthesis because they are very expensive and require a highly basic (non-benign) environment that has little to do with the conditions under which photosynthesis operates.
More engineering work needs to be done to integrate the new scientific discovery into existing photovoltaic systems, but Nocera said he is confident that such systems will become a reality.
My sense is that the issue you opoint out is referred to in the last bit directly above, the More engineering work needs to be done to integrate the new scientific discovery into existing photovoltaic systems,, which I take as a euphemism for “we haven’t yet solved hydrogen storage.”
I have read elsewhere that progress is being made in this area.
Jon
What I found most interesting was at the same time this was announced there was also a new fuel cell technology announced. One of the major problems with fuel cells, especially if you want to use them in vehicles, is they require Platinum for a catalyst, and Platinum is (a) too expensive, and (b) too rare, to produce enough to replace gas powered vehicles with. This new technology uses Gortex instead of Platinum. Not only is it equally efficient but of course there is no scarcity and it is a lot cheaper to produce – I discussed it with links at http://www.thealders.net/blogs/2008/08/03/new-fuel-cell/ – put the two technologies together – that is, use solar to generate electricity and H and O, store the gas (once that problem is overcome) for power generation during non-solar generating times and also to refuel your vehicle with. If this is possible not only do you put the oil companies out of business (well sort of – still lots of other uses for petrochemicals) but also the coal fired generating plants (which comprise 52% of the power generation in the US)
Yes, Doug .. and according to the comments left on this article this method requires such a thin plating of platinum (evidently) that the prohibitive costs become much less prohibitive.
I am not all that knowledgeable about this stuff, but the point this articles raises it that the foundation for subsequent breakthroughs (such as the one you describe) may have been laid.