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Personal-scale solar energy is essential to meeting the world's energy
demands in the next century, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
professor Daniel Nocera said in the latest issue of Inorganic Chemistry.
Nocera
envisions a catalyst that could split water molecules into hydrogen and
oxygen; the hydrogen, in turn, would be used to generate electricity in
a fuel cell. The process is not dissimilar to photosynthesis, the
series of reactions by which plants generate energy.
Electricity
demand will double by mid-century and triple by 2100, Nocera
anticipates, necessitating new energy-generation technologies. Personal
solar power could meet the world's energy needs in a sustainable
manner, he suggests.
"Point-of-use solar energy will put individuals … on a more level playing field," he said.
Nocera
was lauded by Time magazine as one of its 2009 Time 100, a list of the
world's 100 most influential people. In an interview with the magazine,
he suggested that, by mid-century, global energy needs could be met by
splitting a minute amount of water.
And the technology Nocera
developed is being refined by a company called Sun Catalytix, which was
one of 37 firms to receive a grant from the Department of Energy's
ARPA-E program. Only 1 percent of companies that applied were given a
grant, the DOE says.
