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A limitless renewable energy source that can wean humans off fossil fuels has existed for billions of years, according to the latest report from a "green" scientist.
The trick to using it is figuring out how to make our power sources more like plants—and a recent discovery may bring scientists closer to the goal. Plants use photosynthesis to capture energy directly from the sun, a feat that humans have been striving to achieve for years via solar cells.
"How will mankind be able to supply itself with the levels of energy it needs?" asked James Barber, a biochemist at Imperial College London.
"Really, there is only one solution … to use the enormous amount of sunlight available to us."
An hour of sunlight falling on Earth equals all the energy that humans use on average in a year. But to date solar cells have been inefficient energy converters—the most efficient plastic solar cells on today's market convert only 6 percent of sunlight into usable energy. Another option is to mimic the chemical reactions in photosynthesis, Barber said, specifically a step known as water splitting. Water splitting is a complex chemical reaction that takes place in leaves, algae, phytoplankton, and other green organisms. Understanding this structure may help scientists replicate the enzyme artificially.
"This is a very difficult chemical problem and nature solved it," said Gary Brudvig, a biophysical chemist at Yale University who has also been researching photosystem II.
"We've first been trying to figure out how nature does the chemistry and—once we've obtained a reasonable idea of how the natural system works—we [will try] to replicate that in artificial systems."
Many of today's carbon-based fuels are currently derived from photosynthesis that took place millions of years ago. That energy is stored in the form of oil, gas, and coal. But, Brudvig said, a more efficient energy solution depends on duplicating natural systems rather than relying on dwindling supplies of fossil fuels.
"If the leaf can do it, we can do it."
This was actually back in '07, but I love this idea. Why are we continuing to clamor over oil when the Earth is already three fourths fuel? Water is the most abundant thing on this Earth and it can solve all our energy problems overnight.
