A scientist at MIT has developed an efficient, simple, and cheap method of generating energy from solar power. Unlike previous methods (basic solar panels), this invention is able to store energy collected from the sun to be used all day and night, allowing individual homes to generate their own power. In implementing this, we would achieve complete energy independence, from a source that is renewable and environmentally clean.
MIT develops method to bank solar energy at home
Scott Malone, Reuters Published: Friday, August 01, 2008
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- A U.S. scientist has developed a new way of powering fuel cells that could make it practical for home owners to store solar energy and produce electricity to run lights and appliances at night.
A new catalyst produces the oxygen and hydrogen that fuel cells use to generate electricity, while using far less energy than current methods.
With this catalyst, users could rely on electricity produced by photovoltaic solar cells to power the process that produces the fuel, said the Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who developed the new material.
"If you can only have energy when the sun is shining, you're in deep trouble. And that's why, in my opinion, photovoltaics haven't penetrated the market," Daniel Nocera, an MIT professor of energy, said in an interview at his Cambridge, Mass., office.
"If I could provide a storage mechanism, then I make energy 24/7 and then we can start talking about solar."Solar has been growing as a power source in the United States -- last year the nation's solar capacity rose 45% to 750 megawatts. But it is still a tiny power source, producing enough energy to meet the needs of about 600,000 typical homes, and only while the sun is shining, according to data from the Solar Energy Industries Association.
Most U.S. homes with solar panels feed electricity into the power grid during the day, but have to draw back from the grid at night.
Mr. Nocera said his development would allow homeowners to bank solar energy as hydrogen and oxygen, which a fuel cell could use to produce electricity when the sun was not shining........
"It's cheap, it's efficient, it's highly manufacturable, it's incredibly tolerant of impurity and it's from earth-abundant stuff," Mr. Nocera explained.
Mr. Nocera has not tried to construct a full-sized version of the system, but suggested that the technologies to bring this into a typical home could be ready in less than a decade.
http://www.financialpost.com/reports/oil-watch/story.html?id=695695This could be the most important invention of the century. Imagine how much this would alleviate financial pressures, as well as completely revolutionize geopolitics and foreign relations. It is estimated that by ten years, every home could be energy independent.
