New research at MIT has opened the door to a 24 hour energy solution using the sun and solar energy. Plants store their energy in the evening and their is an abundance of energy during the day to allow for overnight storage. The amount of energy falling on the Earth in one hour is equivalent to all of the energy needs of the planet for an entire year.
New and efficient ways of splitting hydrogen and oxygen and storing the energy in a fuel cell in your basement would allow 24 hour, off-grid production of energy. Effectively making your home a powerPLANT…. nice. You plug in you electric car and charge it from the sun and/or the stored energy in the hydrogen fuel cell.
This has huge implications to move us toward energy independence and decentralized energy distribution.
Very exciting!
Peace,
Bruce
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“MIT researchers say they have discovered a way to use solar energy cheaply even after the sun goes down, which could make it a mainstream source of power within the next decade.”
“”The industry is trying to cut costs and improve efficiency all along the supply chain,” Hanis said. “The cost of solar should be on par with sort of traditional fossil sources in about eight years,” based on the rising costs of other forms of energy and the trends the association has seen in cost reductions in solar over the last decade, she said.”
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Click here for the video interview
Click here for the full article
Here is another article on the same subject from “Science Daily”:
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In a revolutionary leap that could transform solar power from a marginal, boutique alternative into a mainstream energy source, MIT researchers have overcome a major barrier to large-scale solar power: storing energy for use when the sun doesn’t shine.
Requiring nothing but abundant, non-toxic natural materials, this discovery could unlock the most potent, carbon-free energy source of all: the sun. “This is the nirvana of what we’ve been talking about for years,” said MIT’s Daniel Nocera
Nocera hopes that within 10 years, homeowners will be able to power their homes in daylight through photovoltaic cells, while using excess solar energy to produce hydrogen and oxygen to power their own household fuel cell. Electricity-by-wire from a central source could be a thing of the past.
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.
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A snapshot showing the new, efficient oxygen catalyst in action
in Dan Nocera’s laboratory at MIT. (Credit: MIT/NSF)