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  • Reviewed by ddd1600 on Jul 26, 10:12pm

    as with all other sensational reports, I am skeptical

  • Reviewed by onethousandwords on May 31, 1:38am

    I've been stumbling for about 20 minutes and this is the third "wonder technology" article...

  • Reviewed by geoglyph on Apr 14 2009, 12:20am

    no proof of concept; no dice.

  • Rated by lord-xeon on Mar 09 2009, 9:56am

    another concept that's great in theory, but will never see the light of day in practice. I wish people would start writing stories that portray fact, and not a romanticized vision of the future a year from now where we will all live solely by this miracle technology

  • Rated by Moonflower3260 on Mar 01 2009, 9:04am

    Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have discovered a new way of storing energy from sunlight that could lead to `unlimited' solar power. The process, loosely based on plant photosynthesis, uses solar energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. When needed, the gases can then be re-combined in a fuel cell, creating carbon-free electricity whether the sun is shining or not. According to project leader Prof. Daniel Nocera, "This is the nirvana of what we've been talking about for years. Solar power has always been a limited, far-off solution. Now, we can seriously think about solar power as unlimited and soon." * See also: California Solar Initiative Had Most MW Applications in a Day Ever * Get CleanTechnica by RSS or sign up by email. Nocera has also explained that the process (video) uses natural materials, is inexpensive to conduct and is easy to set up. "That's why I know this is going to work. It's so easy to implement," he said. Other prominent scientists in the field have rushed to highlight the revolutionary potential of the new process. According to James Barber, biochemistry professor at Imperial College London, this research is a `giant leap' towards generating clean, carbon-free energy on as massive scale. In a statement, he also said: "This is a major discovery with enormous implications for the future prosperity of humankind. The importance of their discovery cannot be overstated since it opens up the door for developing new technologies for energy production, thus reducing our dependence for fossil fuels and addressing the global climate change problem." No news has yet been released of a predicted timescale to commercial development or mainstream adoption. However, Nocera has said that he's hopeful that within 10 years homes will no longer be powered using electricity-by-wire from a central source. Instead, homeowners will be able to harness solar power during daylight hours and use this new energy storage method for electricity at night.

  • Rated by kalencki on Mar 01 2009, 8:09am

    This is very cool...wouldn't it be great if it can become reality?!? I'm glad there are smart people out there who continue the search for non-fossil fuel energy sources. Amazing

  • Reviewed by Grimnebulin on Feb 19 2009, 12:24pm

    This is an interesting system. What the researchers have done is mimic the first step in the process of photosynthesis - the splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen using a catalyst. Apparently, plants do this very efficiently, but so far I have been unable to find the actual number. In ordinary electrolysis, 30-50% of the energy is lost as heat. Presumably, the loss is smaller with the new system, but I can't find any numbers for the actual efficiency of the system. It all seems pretty over-hyped to me, and I fear this promising clean energy technology will turn out just as useless as all the promising cancer research, or the promising designs for electric cars that pop up every couple of months. http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/21536/page1/ (MIT article on the new technology - more in-depth than this)