It’s a sad state of affairs: your lawn is better at converting the sun into energy than that $23k solar array your neighbors just threw on their roof. Sun Catalytix wants to show that grass what’s what with a new process for splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen — artificial photosynthesis. In a presentation at the ARPA-E conference (the Advanced Research Projects Agency — basically DARPA minus the military bent) Sun Catalytix founder Dan Nocera indicates that the process his company is developing could, with a photovoltaic array, four hours of sunlight, and a bottle of water, generate 30 kilowatt-hours of electricity. That’s enough to power an average home for a day — though hardcore gamers will probably need a bit more. The hope is that this will ultimately lead to cheap power for self-sufficient homes in the not-too distant future, but we’re still left wondering when that future’s going to come.
[Thanks, Jaden]
Continue reading Artificial photosynthesis could power your house, even if it’s not green (video)
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(PhysOrg.com) — With one bottle of drinking water and four hours of sunlight, MIT chemist Dan Nocera claims that he can produce 30 KWh of electricity, which is enough to power an entire household in the developing world. With about three gallons of river water, he could satisfy the daily energy needs of a large American home. The key to these claims is a new, affordable catalyst that uses solar electricity to split water and generate hydrogen.
I’m always all about any gadget that can function well, while being powered by nothing more than the sun. It cuts down on batteries and it’s basically the lazy man’s way of being eco-friendly. In that you really don’t have to put in a whole lot of effort and you’re managing to at least help to not make the earth any worse than its current state. That being said, I’m not entirely sold on this solar gadget. Since it is an alarm, it almost seems like it’s advertising its presence to burglars.
Sure, it’ll go off anytime someone opens the window at all. However, I’m curious if someone were to break a windowpane next to the solar panel and were to just shut it off or tear it off, if it would do any good. Then again many people looking at it from the outside would probably think it’s just a harmless solar gadget probably charging your cellphone. Which if that’s the case, it could still work. These window alarms come in twin packs for £24.99 or about $38.
Source: Envirogadget
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The title of this post is pretty boring but it describes exactly what this concept is; a Light Tree. The artificial tree is covered in solar cells that power ultra-bright LEDs at the base. The light diffuses thru water which fills the entire cavity of the tree for that “glowy” look. The upper extremities hold seeds to REAL PLANTS, like OMG! I was getting worried about the total artificiality of this concept but at least you’ve got some green shrubbery in there.
Designer: Omar Ivan Huerta Cardoso
