An MIT Scientist has made a breakthrough discovery in the practice of energy storage that stands to revolutionize the practical application of solar power. The amount of energy the Earth receives from sunlight is vast, by some calculations there is enough solar power hitting this planet within a single to power all human energy consumption for an entire year. However, the technology to be able to store this enormous amount of energy, which directly or indirectly powered all life on earth until the advent of fossil fuels, has been woefully inadequate…until now.

MIT Professor Daniel Nocera has found a simple solution for electricity storage that requires nothing but abundant, natural, non-toxic materials. The concept was inspired by the most widespread energy integration process in the history of the planet: photosynthesis. Nocera and postdoctoral fellow Matthew Kanan created a way to use electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen which may then be later combined within a fuel cell to power homes, businesses and vehicles. That’s it, a process inspired by plants that can easily be applied to power all of our needs has arrived.

You can takepart in keeping up with groundbreaking developments in renewable energy technology by checking out the Green Daily.

LINKS:

Green Daily: A revolution in renewable energy: Daniel Nocera’s magic bullet

Red Ferret: MIT professor Daniel Nocera discovers more efficient way to store solar energy for use at night

Boston.com: MIT: We can make solar energy cheaper