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30.03.2011, 16:00
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| | Game changer for energy? http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/...rtificial-leaf http://web.mit.edu/chemistry/dgn/www...ch/solar.shtml | Quote: |  | | | Nocera's leaf is stable -- operating continuously for at least 45 hours without a drop in activity in preliminary tests -- and made of widely available, inexpensive materials -- like silicon, electronics and chemical catalysts. It's also powerful, as much as ten times more efficient at carrying out photosynthesis than a natural leaf.
With a single gallon of water, Nocera says, the chip could produce enough electricity to power a house in a developing country for an entire day. Provide every house on the planet with an artificial leaf and we could satisfy our 14 terrawatt need with just one gallon of water a day. | | | | | If true, why haven't the energy conglomerates had this guy killed yet?
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30.03.2011, 16:14
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| | Re: Game changer for energy? | Quote: | |  | | | | | | | |
Perhaps it has to do with the whole "enough to power a house in a developing country" bit as opposed to it being able to power a house in a developed country.
Sure it can make enough juice for the average country home with "sustenance" needs such as powering a fridge (maybe a small one?), enough power for general lights in the evening and such.
Maybe less able to handle a home with dad watching big screen downstairs, mom in the kitchen running mixer and microwave at same time, kids doing homework on their own computers in their own rooms... IF it could do all that, probably the "big guys" would be more interested in taking it "out of the running" somehow.
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30.03.2011, 16:21
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| | Re: Game changer for energy? | Quote: | |  | | | | | | | | Agreed. Alternative energy sources will only become "viable" when big money controls them. Simple as that. Electric cars have always been "close" but have never quite been good enough. There are places that have the infrastructure for them (ex california) but special interests would never allow it to be fully realized.
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30.03.2011, 16:21
| | Re: Game changer for energy?
Im not a scientist but I assume it'll work with sea water/dirty water?
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30.03.2011, 16:22
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| | Re: Game changer for energy? | Quote: | |  | | | Im not a scientist but I assume it'll work with sea water/dirty water? | | | | |
it doesn't say about sea water, but they say it works with waste water, inc human waste water
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30.03.2011, 16:23
| | Re: Game changer for energy? | Quote: | |  | | | it doesn't say about sea water, but they say it works with waste water, inc human waste water | | | | | Then it sounds awesome. I wonder how cheap is cheap? If they're under say $500, then it could revolutionise everything.
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30.03.2011, 16:23
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| | Re: Game changer for energy? | Quote: | |  | | | Perhaps it has to do with the whole "enough to power a house in a developing country" bit as opposed to it being able to power a house in a developed country.  | | | | | You might be right. But it would seem that the real threat to the current energy paradigm IS developing nations. If you look at the consumption of oil, one could only assume that it would increase exponentially when countries that are "developing" reach the point of Europe and the US. This would make a scare resource even more so. And we already know the problems it causes.
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30.03.2011, 16:39
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| | Re: Game changer for energy?
Gives a new meaning to "power plant"! | The following 2 users would like to thank Russkov for this useful post: | | 
30.03.2011, 16:40
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| | Re: Game changer for energy? | Quote: | |  | | | You might be right. But it would seem that the real threat to the current energy paradigm IS developing nations. If you look at the consumption of oil, one could only assume that it would increase exponentially when countries that are "developing" reach the point of Europe and the US. This would make a scare resource even more so. And we already know the problems it causes. | | | | | Well, that's precisely the reason why providing this product to households in developing nations first (perhaps while the technology is developed for the higher amounts of energy consumed in your average developed nation household) could be one of many solutions necessary for not letting history repeat itself.
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30.03.2011, 16:41
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| | Re: Game changer for energy? | Quote: | |  | | | Maybe less able to handle a home with dad watching big screen downstairs, mom in the kitchen running mixer and microwave at same time, kids doing homework on their own computers in their own rooms... IF it could do all that, probably the "big guys" would be more interested in taking it "out of the running" somehow. | | | | | Couldn't they just use more than one chip for more power?
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30.03.2011, 16:43
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| | Re: Game changer for energy? | Quote: | |  | | | Couldn't they just use more than one chip for more power? | | | | | Or double the size? As it really isn't very big to begin with...
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