It appears that a breakthrough could provide abundant energy that is truly affordable. The question now is will it be adopted?

Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor, Daniel Nocera and his colleagues announced in 2008 that they had found a way to mimic nature with an artificial means of accomplishing photosynthesis. It now looks like the group is preparing to move forward to provide the technology to the public.

In nature, plants use the sun in a process known as photosynthesis to remove airborne chemicals and supply oxygen to our atmosphere. This process takes place in ambient conditions. Our envy of the natural process has resulting in millions of hours and dollars spent trying to duplicate this process.

Nocera said that his process allows him to submerge a chip in a bottle of water and expose it to sunlight. Within moments and no external power supplied, bubbles of oxygen and hydrogen begin to form. The gases are easily collected and can be used to power a fuel cell to generate electrical power. This process would also mean that power could be cheaply supplied to remote areas. The costs currently are equivalent to solar panels.

Is this coming soon to a roof near you? I don’t know. However, the professor and his colleagues believe in the process and have formed a company to commercialize the product. That company is Sun Catalytix, Cambridge, Mass. Visit this link to find additional information at their website. There are also links to other papers published by the researchers.

This is one of many seemingly wonderful products that are currently under development. These are not science fiction ideas that only exist in someone’s mind or are smoke and mirrors put out by shysters. However, shysters do exist and will try to cheat hard-working individuals out of their earnings with products that cannot deliver and we must be diligent when moving into new technology. But change is coming to a plug near you, albeit a slow change.