A revolution in renewable energy: Daniel Nocera’s magic bullet

If you ask experts about the reason that solar capability is unrealistic, you will generally construct out the same basic reply: solar capability cannot be easily stored. considering large-scale solar is only cost-effective in a few areas, the inability to efficiently store and transport renders it difficult to use. Added to that, of course, is the fact that solar ability only works when the sun is out, which means that, unless you have effective storage or an address in Arizona, it isn’t all that dependable.

A similar problem plagues hydrogen fuel cell cars. Conventional wisdom states that producing hydrogen requires a large energy expenditure, which means that fuel cells operate at an energy deficit from the start. Regardless of how non-polluting they are, whether it producing the fuel costs a fortune and uses a ton of energy, next they really aren’t all that green.

These are hardly minor problems. Although Honda has begun offering fuel-cell powered cars and Whole Foods

has begun powering its stores with fuel cells, the technology is still extremely expensive and the infrastructure for supporting it is largely nonexistent. Most companies are waiting to enter the fuel cell arena until there is proof that it can be economically feasible. Meanwhile, solar potential, by and large, remains small-scale and relatively insignificant.

Recently, however, Daniel Nocera, a chemistry professor at MIT, has developed a catalyst that can use solar capability to generate hydrogen from water. It is cheap to produce and may well pave the way for efficient solar potential, cheap hydrogen fuel cells, and a clean, inexpensive ability source. It is hard to overestimate the impact that that catalyst may have. The easiest comparison would be to the development of capability plants, the production of alternating current, or the development of the gasoline engine. In other words, whether that discovery proves to be real, Professor Nocera has just changed the world!

[Source] Bruce Watson

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