SOLAR BREAKTHROUGH: HOW PLANTS DO IT
Submitted by New Energy News Blog
Efficiently converting sunlight into energy is the dream. Plants do it at nearly 100% efficiency. Humans have figured out how to do it at anywhere from 10% to 40% (or so) efficiency (depending on how much you want to spend).Maybe it’s because plants don’t waste their efforts on American Idol or Britney Spears.
No, no – plants use a network of pigment-protein complexes. Scientists want to know more about how those networks work.
Maybe the most amazing part of plant photosynthesis is that it consumes carbon dioxide, the biggest if not the baddest of the greenhouse gas (GhG) emissions, and produces oxygen, the stuff humans need to breathe.
For obvious reasons, most of the brilliant scientists doing deep research in the area of solar energy are trying to replicate the process. It has been slow going. A new breakthrough will allow them to see the process a little more clearly.
For those seeking a technical understanding of the breakthrough, quotes from the researchers are below.
Even more informative is Inorganic Mimics of Photosynthesis, Professor Harry Gray’s November 9, 2007, CalTech lecture, from which some of the illustrations below are borrowed.
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