Bio-batteries...

This just in...

A research team in Sydney has created molecules that mimic those in plants which harvest light and power life on Earth.
“A leaf is an amazingly cheap and efficient solar cell,” says Dr Deanna D’Alessandro, a postdoctoral researcher in the Molecular Electronics Group at the University of Sydney. “The best leaves can harvest 30 to 40 percent of the light falling on them. The best solar cells we can build are between 15 and 20 percent efficient, and expensive to make.”

“We’ve recreated some of the key systems that plants use in photosynthesis,” says Deanna.  <read the article>

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Kudos to the Aussies for doing this kind of research.  There is so much untapped solar energy out there and it's not going away.  Unlike our precious natural resources, the sun is pretty much an infinite power source... at least for the next few million years.  We need to take advantage of it.

The beauty of this research is that the result is more efficient than the traditional solar cell systems.   30% to 40% efficiency doubles what is currently possible.   Hopefully less expensive too.

A few days ago, I was sitting on the couch with the sun beating down through the window.   It felt good for a while, but soon it became too hot.  As I started pulling the shade down a bit, I had one of those 'Wow!' moments when it occured to me that the Sun, at 93,000,000 miles away, could produce so much heat.  THAT'S a lot of energy!