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Solar Power Breakthrough Stores Energy for Later Use
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts - Within 10 years, homeowners could power their homes in daylight with solar photovoltaic cells, while using excess solar energy to produce hydrogen and oxygen from water to power a household fuel cell. If the new process developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology finds acceptance in the marketplace, electricity-by-wire from a central source could be a thing of the past.
"This is the nirvana of what we've been talking about for years," said MIT's Daniel Nocera, senior author of a paper describing the simple, inexpensive, and efficient process for storing solar energy in the July 31 issue of the journal "Science."
"Solar power has always been a limited, far-off solution. Now we can seriously think about solar power as unlimited and soon," Nocera said.
Until now, solar power has been a daytime-only energy source, because storing extra solar energy for later use is expensive and inefficient. But Nocera and his team of researchers have hit upon an elegant solution.
Inspired by the photosynthesis performed by plants, Nocera and Matthew Kanan, a postdoctoral fellow in Nocera's lab, have developed a new process that will allow the Sun's energy to be used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. Later, the oxygen and hydrogen can be recombined inside a fuel cell, creating carbon-free electricity to power buildings, homes or electric cars - day or night.
The key component in the new process is a new catalyst that produces oxygen gas from water - another catalyst produces valuable hydrogen gas.
The new catalyst consists of cobalt metal, phosphate and an electrode, placed in water.
When electricity from a photovoltaic cell, a wind turbine or any other source runs through the electrode, the cobalt and phosphate form a thin film on the electrode, and oxygen gas is produced.
Combined with another catalyst, such as platinum, that can produce hydrogen gas from water, the system can duplicate the water splitting reaction that occurs in plants during photosynthesis.
The new catalyst works at room temperature, in neutral pH water, and is easy to set up, Nocera said. "That's why I know this is going to work. It's so easy to implement," he said.
Sunlight has the greatest potential of any power source to solve the world's energy problems, said Nocera. In one hour, enough sunlight strikes the Earth to provide the entire planet's energy needs for one year.
James Barber, a leader in the study of photosynthesis who was not involved in this research, called the discovery by Nocera and Kanan a "giant leap" toward generating clean, carbon-free energy on a massive scale.
"This is a major discovery with enormous implications for the future prosperity of humankind," said Barber, the Ernst Chain Professor of Biochemistry at Imperial College London. "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."
Currently available electrolyzers, which split water with electricity and are often used industrially, are not suited for artificial photosynthesis because they are very expensive and require an environment that has little to do with the conditions under which photosynthesis operates.
More engineering work needs to be done to integrate the new scientific discovery into existing photovoltaic systems, but Nocera said he is confident that such systems will become a reality.
"This is just the beginning," said Nocera, principal investigator for the Solar Revolution Project funded by the Chesonis Family Foundation and co-Director of the Eni-MIT Solar Frontiers Center. "The scientific community is really going to run with this."
The project is part of the MIT Energy Initiative, a program designed to help transform the global energy system to meet the needs of the future and to help build a bridge to that future by improving today's energy systems.
MITEI Director Ernest Moniz said, "This discovery in the Nocera lab demonstrates that moving up the transformation of our energy supply system to one based on renewables will depend heavily on frontier basic science."
This project was funded by the National Science Foundation and by the Chesonis Family Foundation, which gave MIT $10 million this spring to launch the Solar Revolution Project, with a goal to make the large scale deployment of solar energy within 10 years.
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2008
79 Comments so far
Show AllEUREKA - It's about time! Now, let's see the gov and oil companies hide this info!
Both gasses would need to be compressed for efficient storage. Is enough energy generated to both produce and compress the gasses for storage?
The gov and oil companies will co-opt this technology to enhance their own profit margin!
It is an amazing discovery and is one third of the basic problems for point of use energy gerneration. The other two are storage of hydrogen and the fuel cell. Hydrogen storage is notoriously inefficient and fuel cells are notoriously expensive. Never the less one down and two to go and we can detach from the grid!
Anyone wonder who might not want that to happen?
Platinum is rarer and more expensive than gold or oil... You can't use that...
But is the platinum 'reused'? It would be 'cheaper' if one platinum rod was used for the life of the machine- that's different from oil.
And current solar panels capture 10-20% of the energy that hits it (30% collectors are in the works) but still, if they were on every rooftop in this country (they end up paying for themselves in under 10 years) even 10% of "In one hour, enough sunlight strikes the Earth to provide the entire planet's energy needs for one year" is still a lot.
And even if solar panels are not hooked up to this new process, even just collecting energy during peak hours will conserve energy use during the most costly time of day (proven).
The future is here. Don't wait for washington. Get your own town to do it! (Any homeowners out there? Get your local Property Secretary to work on getting solar technology as a deductable to your home!)
Look, this really is not that big a deal . . . folks can live off-the-grid presently as we all do where I live and you simply store solar energy in golf cart batteries or floor sweeper batteries which are cheap and easily available. For a $20,000 investment in solar panels, a charge controller, inverter, six batteries and time with a qualified electrician you too could live off-the-grid by next week. No having to wait for scientists to perfect some convoluted hydrogen system.
For a modest investment of $3000 you could have an off-the-grid system that will allow you to power one light, a radio and your lap-top every evening.
This is not just an innovation with consequences for solar, but for any intermittent energy technology that could use an energy storage mechanism, like H2. Electrolysis has been known about for years, but it this makes it more efficient it'll find application in many places like, for example, H2-powered cars. The main problem with H2 powered cars is making the H2 in the first place. This process could have huge ramifications in moving us toward a 'hydrogen economy'
Youbetterwork: Platinum is in most car engines today in the catalytic converters because the metal turns some noxious gases into less noxious gases. There is about $238 worth in platinum in a VW Passat, for instance. Granted, another metal likely would be less expensive but it's platinum that does the job for now. Platinum used in this hydrogen/oxygen "engine" would be cleaner and would produce much longer.
Abe: I tend to agree with you. Unfortunately, most Americans are energy gluttons and would need pretty large battery banks to even come close to their consumption with solar power.
I'm in Southern CA and in the solar industry. I gave an estimate to a man in Palm Springs two years ago who paid $1300 during August (to SoCal Edison)--mostly for air conditioning and pool filtration. I calculated his rate of return for a photovoltaic system was the quickest I'd ever encountered. He still didn't buy saying he could make more in stock investments with the same money(?) Conversely, I sold a very modest system to a frugal retired couple here in San Diego who likely would break even on their investment in 25 years! Their movivation: They wanted to use clean electricity and to show a good example to their grandson and neighbors.
My point is everyone has his own priorities. And those with the McMansions, the Excursions or Hummers and all the electronic gadgetry of the day--the ones who could really benefit from solar--don't really give a damn.
Youbetterwork: Platinum is in most car engines today in the catalytic converters because the metal turns some noxious gases into less noxious gases. There is about $238 worth in platinum in a VW Passat, for instance. Granted, another metal likely would be less expensive but it's platinum that does the job for now. Platinum used in this hydrogen/oxygen "engine" would be cleaner and would produce much longer.
Abe: I tend to agree with you. Unfortunately, most Americans are energy gluttons and would need pretty large battery banks to even come close to their consumption with solar power.
I'm in Southern CA and in the solar industry. I gave an estimate to a man in Palm Springs two years ago who paid $1300 during August (to SoCal Edison)--mostly for air conditioning and pool filtration. I calculated his rate of return for a photovoltaic system was the quickest I'd ever encountered. He still didn't buy saying he could make more in stock investments with the same money(?) Conversely, I sold a very modest system to a frugal retired couple here in San Diego who likely would break even on their investment in 25 years! Their movivation: They wanted to use clean electricity and to show a good example to their grandson and neighbors.
My point is everyone has his own priorities. And those with the McMansions, the Excursions or Hummers and all the electronic gadgetry of the day--the ones who could really benefit from solar--don't really give a damn.
I'm sure Enron, PG&E, PP&L, etc. will all sit back and go right along with this change. Honestly, I don't expect to ever see anything like this in widespread use, there are too many hard-headed, greedy A-holes who want to control our power supply. Something needs to be done about them as well.
This was the great error of Malthus' carefully postualted theories of inevitable cataclysmic poverty through over population. He could not visualize the world beyond the subsistence farming economy in which he lived ever changing.
This is great news--but the devil (as always) is in the details. Gaurantees of the future prosperity of all mankind into the forseeable future is not something the minders of the "little people"--ie you and me--want to see happen but if this bell is rung loud and far enough it may already be too late for "them" to do squat about it.
So much of science is the cross pollination of fertile minds by new ideas and paradigms that this will be interesting to follow. What could the Japanese, Chinese, Russians, and Scandanavians do with this breakthrough? Hmmm
Hey, a step is a step. We will never "arrive" at perfection, but each creative step takes us in a direction...it's a good thing.
If you stick wires from any battery into water oxygen and hydrogen will bubble off the ends, so electrolysis is not too difficult. The article claims to have a catalyst that will encourage this reaction, but there is no actual information, so we can only presume, or hope, that the catalyst increases the rate of electrolysis. But, no information. Energy still needs to be pumped through the wires. Hydrogen production is a now-famous energy sink; it takes more energy to produce it than one gets back from the gas. And....commerical application for this alleged new technique is still 10 years out. Interpretation: Give us a big, multi-milliion dollar grant to study this further.
As mentioned above, solar is already available. My system, including 8 golf cart batteries, cost $10,000, and is very functional.
Yay! and there's more coming too!
Soon, we'll see major breakthroughs in preventative medicine and sound technology...
Stay tuned for the age of Aquarius with its hallmarks of eco-compatible technology, principled love and expanded consciousness.
Love and Light,
Sunyata
http://www.mythiclove.net/sunyata
It sounds like this is just electrolysis without the need for an electrolyte, which is indeed a useful step. people have been electrloysing water for over a century, but the old process used a corrosive compound in the water, which ate up electrodes and required careful control of the current to be sustainable. Putting this nice clean hydrogen into a fuel cell solves the contamination problem from hydrogen derived by other means. Storage of the gas is still a problem, though.
MIT Energy Initiative:
http://web.mit.edu/mitei
Energy STORAGE really is something that is holding back a switch to solar and wind. Those things are fine for when it is daytime and windy, but that's obviously not 100% of the time. Fuel cell research is really important for that reason. Interestingly, McCain has offered huge rewards for technology breakthroughs in this area.
What's the catch? Oh nothing really. Except that such an energy conversion/storage mechanism can and will be owned/controlled by the capitalist beast to continue its enslavement of people.
Oh the inventor gets some royalties. But the ownership and control of production, the "rights" to build the photovoltaic panels, the electrolysis equipment, the gas storage tanks, and the fuel cell, the right to control the market, the government, the people, will be owned by umm Westinghouse, and will be worth umm, $100 billion. MIT gets a share of the jackpot to attract students.
You won't have the political power to protect your rights. You depend on Westinghouse for your electricity fix, so let the beast decide which rights you will have - don't ask for privacy - you can't have it.
Solution: try reliance on small local independent farmers, craftsmen and merchants for your energy, food, etc.
nicnews, jpbreeze,
It will be difficult for vested interests to suppress this technology. Electrolysis is demonstrated in every high school chemistry class and the concept of using this technology to store energy captured by photovoltaics has been around for decades. The technical advance here is in the selection of catalysts that boosts the efficiency of the process. While a specific apparatus could perhaps be patented, there are an infinite number of variations on this theme.
Look at the guy's face, with an expression like that, that says omg so awesome... should be great!
Youbetterwork:
Platinum is in most car engines today in the catalytic converters because the metal turns some noxious gases into less noxious gases. There is about $238 worth of platinum in a VW Passat, for instance. Granted, another metal likely would be less expensive but it's platinum that does the job for now. Platinum used in this hydrogen/oxygen "engine" would be cleaner overall and would produce much longer in this application.
Abe:
I tend to agree with you. Unfortunately, most Americans are energy gluttons and would need fairly large battery banks to even come close to their consumption with solar power.
I'm in Southern CA and in the solar industry. I gave an estimate to a man in Palm Springs two years ago who paid $1300 during August (to SoCal Edison)--mostly for air conditioning and pool filtration. I calculated his rate of return for a photovoltaic system was the quickest I'd ever encountered--about five years. He still didn't buy saying he could make more in the stock market with the same money(?) Conversely, I sold a very modest system to a frugal retired couple here in San Diego who likely would break even on their investment in 25 years! Their movivation: They wanted to use clean electricity and to show a good example to their grandson and neighbors.
My point is everyone has his own priorities. And those with the McMansions, the Excursions or Hummers and all the electronic gadgetry of the day--the ones who could really benefit from solar--don't really give a damn.
Sorry for THREE of the same postings everybody. WordPress was acting weird about an hour ago so I didn't know if I posted or not.
BTW: I should have mentioned that I fully support Nocera's work. It's good old American ingenuity--and a healthy dose of profit motive--that makes these things happen. Think of all the fantastic advancements were made in the 60's when the race for space was a national commitment. Think what can happen if the paradigm shifts in Washington and clean, alternative energy becomes a national priority!
This is a field I know something about. I wish I had the 'Science' article in front of me.
The general process, called 'electrolysis' of water is not 'new'..that's the press getting science wrong again as it so often does. In fact, you can do the same thing with a pair of copper strips, and a high voltage DC (direct current) supply. Connect the copper strips to the poles of the supply and emmerse them in vinegar water or very salty water (The vineagar or salt are just so electricity will conduct.) and you'll see two gasses forming on the wires connected to the poles. Oxygen connects at the positive side and hydrogen at the negative side.
Look it up on wikipedia...it's all there.
What sounds 'new' here is the ability to use water that doesn't have anything disolved in it. And I presume an increase in the efficiency of the process perhaps?
The problems of collecting the hydrogen are then very very serious.
What is far LESS serious would be to simply take that 'excess' solar energy and store it in a lead-acid car battery. I did these calculations and concluded that 4 Marine batteries would store enough energy to power my home for 4 days. WITHOUT haveing to deal with a gas that has an explosive range which far exceeds gasoline.
The big problem, where I live, is that I'm not sure, given the 16% efficiency of solar cells, that this is enough given the few sunny days we have. Indeed, I'd end up using the energy right away!
I need a solar cell that is 1/2 the current cost and double the current efficiency. This is not an insane request....but it is many years away at the moment.
what?! a big utility company not making a profit? they'll never ever allow that.....
Physics:
The article can be found here
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18669820
If you still can't get to it, I can send you a copy vanelzak AT C0L0RAD0 D0T EDU
For the time being this beats "Cold Fusion" hands down. Folks, if the economics even come close to breaking even buy into wind and solar, be part of a very important anti-corporate revolution!
Imagine how quickly solar could be implemented if we'd direct our attention to this planet instead of outer space. Not to mention that the time, energy and resources spent on wars and military build up could produce clean solar energy in time to save the Earth from environmental disaster.
This is the best news I've heard in weeks!
Sounds Earth-Shaking, but
Most cobalt comes from The Congo and is dripping with the blood of black children, women and men.
Still, choke on it Rex Tillman.
sbrownn August 4th, 2008 2:00 pm said:
Both gasses would need to be compressed for efficient storage. Is enough energy generated to both produce and compress the gasses for storage?"
I once read that hydrogen could be stored safely as hydrides, needing no compression.
Poet August 4th, 2008 3:42 pm said:
"This was the great error of Malthus' carefully postualted theories of inevitable cataclysmic poverty through over population. He could not visualize the world beyond the subsistence farming economy in which he lived ever changing"
Malthus was right. Limits to growth are shown by the sociological, psychological and ecological problems of overcrowding. This will happen no matter how many technological fixes we invent to support an increasing human monoculture. This is true for all species. That we are apart from nature is a faith based argument.
The technology of storing hydrogen as a hydride is in the development stage but not yet sufficiently advanced to be practical.
I need a solar cell that is 1/2 the current cost and double the current efficiency. This is not an insane request….but it is many years away at the moment.
There are much more efficient methods of converting solar energy to electricity than photovoltaic cells. Parabolic collectors and Sterling Cycle engines for one.
was it 10 or 15 years ago,..some small lab in Europe, developed a cold fusion lab apparatus that produced MORE energy than it consumed..
they released their findings to the scientific community, whom immediately set out to disprove this obviously preposterous claim.
the same apparatus was set up to specifications, published by the original scientists, in labs around the world ( especially the oil funded research ones!)
a few days passed and results of successful duplication of the surplus energy generation, as claimed by the original scientists, was reported in the MSM.
This reporting continued sporadically for maybe a week, then suddenly the MSM got amnesia..
not a peep was ever seen, heard, nor spoken of this "discovery "again
the fate of the "discovery " we now discuss, awaits the same fate i fear.
simplify
do it for yourself, barter for that which is out of your skill set.
turn off the TV, read a book , take a walk, go meet your neighbors.
plant a garden or buy from your local farmers.
only use a vehicle if you must , ride a bike , take the bus when you are able.
stop buying crap. a pair of pants does the same thing whether one pays 25$ for them or 100$, a little logo does not make them superior.
starve the beast of its food .. your cash.
starve the beast of its air .. your fear.
About 6 months ago I heard about a research team here in Austin Texas who had developed a real breakthrough battery, a capacitor battery much more efficient, quick to charge up cheaply. The fact I haven't heard anything else probably means the evil Petroleum companies are up to their old evil tricks suppressing workable ecological alternatives to petroleum. Big corporations and billionaires have been up doing this wickedness since the 1930's when Billionaire Morgan suppressed Tesla's cheap energy discovery. These Oligarchs have some heavy karma.
The beauty of this system is that it is decentralized. Each building will have it's own power plant. Centralization makes only a few people, management and stockholders, wealthy while the rest of us pay through the nose. Decentralization benefits everyone.
This is great for southern Cal. BUT, HOW do you power NYC with it ?? My condo faces north and I rarely if ever get direct sun light. Where pray tell are you going to put ALL these solar photovoltaic cells. Do you know how many server farms are in banks and other business just in downtown Manhattan and how much electricity they use? Far more than these solar photovoltaic cells can produce, "current solar panels capture 10-20% of the energy that hits it", that sucks even 30% sucks. When you can get 80-90% then you will have something.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=a-solar-grand-plan
I'm after a way to generate power on demand so no storage is necessary. No fuel, no oxidation.
I have decided to found a new organization, to be called the C.I.A., which stands for Crackpot Inventors of America.
txbodhi, Tesla worked within the system. The better way is to work outside the system -it's called localism.
The capitalist's argument that small enterprises are hugely inefficient is meaningful only under the erroneous assumption that large enterprises are hugely efficient. They're not. Large enterprises are terribly inefficient.
For example, they could utilize almost all of the 75% energy waste in electric power plants. But they don't!
They could promote hugely efficient rail transport, but they promote inefficient cars and trucks instead.
They could make cars ten times more efficient but they want us to consume more, not less, fuels and materials.
They could set the amount of economic activity to satisfy our basic needs to 15 hours work per week. But instead they are pushing it up to 40 and more hours per week.
So when the capitalist opens his mouth about efficiencies, you know how to close it. Now go local!
It is illustrative that a grant of only $10 million produced results so quickly. Contrast that with the billions allowed oil companies for research which produces a finding that more money is necessary.
$10 million in the spring... and here it is august already... odd how a little went a long ways so fast huh?
Imagine if we spent billions on alternative energy research... at this rate?
Seems money well spent. A first?
The engineered gasoline prices have begun their steady decline for the election. You can ask your neighbors if the lower price makes them feel better about voting for capitalist establishment candidates.
So what about people living in apartments, condos, or even most townhouses? And what about those BIG GOVERNMENT zoning laws keeping solar panals off even homes in certain zoning areas? Oh yeah, and with all those rising foreclosures, forget it. However, good luck if you can use it.
Tesla discovered free energy, but could not get the financing needed to develop it. When JP Morgan found it he could not put a meter on it and profit from it, he called in his loans and bankrupted the poor guy.
Many people live in apartment buildings, many homeowners are struggling to make mortgage payments meaning little money to invest in upgrading their electricity system. I do not see the reason for much optimism here under the current system.
There is a man (Mike Strizki) in New Jersey that is living totally off the grid and doing something similar to this already. His system was very expensive and requires a bit of acreage to pull off.
This article indicates that the process may be able to be scaled down.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0315/p12s01-sten.html
sounds good but what about the WATER!
water is not a limitless resource. it is, in fact, the 21st century oil (and more)
I want to get excited -- I really do --, but I'll wait for the replication that science inevitably demands. Remember cold fusion.
BUT - what are it's military implications?
will it frighten the terrists?
will they hate us even more when we don't buy their oil?
I have a feeling that Mr Nocera is about to be disappeared, like the car that runs on water.
I don't know how much platinum this system requires, or whether it gets used up at a very slow/fast rate, but I do know there are about 300 million cars in the US that have a hunk of it in their catalytic converters, and with hydrogen, electric, or air cars catalytic converters would be unnecessary.
As far as the whiners who claim ther isn't enough surface area in Manhattan to provide sufficient electricity from solar panels I will just say, "Get a fucking grip on reality & open your minds". You live in a too heavily overpopulated area (which is a part of the problem the world faces altogether), but your electricity has to come from somewhere. Are there any coal fired or nuclear power plants in downtown Manhattan? NO, the power is piped in from miles away. Don't you imagine the same could be done from solar farms located outside the city as well, duh?
RE: rtdrury August 5th, 2008 12:56 am
"The engineered gasoline prices have begun their steady decline for the election."
I like the way you phrased that, "...engineered gasoline prices...", and for those with short memories try to think back to just before the 2004 election...same scenario. It has been pretty much proven by the facts that 'drill, drill, drill' is an asinine assumption to lower gas prices that only aids Big Oil. Isn't it interesting that when demand is down, with supply virtually unchanged, prices rose until Congress (some in congress anyway) started talking of perhaps even criminal charges for speculators who are manipulating the market? If this is some of the 'psychology' that is supposed to influence the market so much, well bring it on...and plenty more even.
I'm not a big Obama fan after the FISA vote, but I will admit the energy policy he laid out in Lansing yesterday makes a hell of a lot more sense than what the oil & blood soaked Republicans are bringing to the table. How's this for a stat I read this morning. Drilling the OCS & ANWR will lower gas at the pump about 6 cents...IN 2030...but proper tire pressure & tune ups will save 12 cents a gallon RIGHT NOW, according to the DOE & EPA.
It's probably a useful discovery, but I produced oxygen and hydrogen from two electrodes as a kid.
Storing the hydrogen is still a problem. We may yet discover that it's cheaper to store compressed air in the back yard as an electricity source for later use.