Simple Storage of the Sun
One of the biggest problems facing the use of solar power as a viable means of replacing fossil fuels is the fact that the sun disappears at night. There have been no efficient or easy ways to store the energy produced for use during the darker hours. This, despite the fact that in the space of one hour, the amount of sunlight that hits the surface of the Earth is enough to power the planet for a year.
However a new discovery by MIT researchers has been made, that will essentially make this problem nonexistent.
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The news has been a big hit all over the net, but we decided we’d take a quick look at it anyway. And though I could probably try and summarize it for you, MIT’s Daniel Nocera, the Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy at MIT and senior author of a paper describing the work in the July 31 issue of Science, will do it much better.
“This is the nirvana of what we’ve been talking about for years,” said Nocera, adding that “solar power has always been a limited, far-off solution. Now we can seriously think about solar power as unlimited and soon.”
“This is a major discovery with enormous implications for the future prosperity of humankind,” said James Barber, the Ernst Chain Professor of Biochemistry at Imperial College London. “The importance of their discovery cannot be overstated since it opens up the door for developing new technologies for energy production thus reducing our dependence for fossil fuels and addressing the global climate change problem.”
And according to Nocera, “This is just the beginning.” He hopes that within 10 years, homeowners will be powering their own homes during the daylight hours using photovoltaic cells, and using the combination of hydrogen and oxygen at night when the sun disappears.
Needless to say, for once, a renewable energy source finally seems viable. No need for square kilometers set aside for giant solar panel installations. This discovery will mean that each house will have their own little power generation, which could even extend to powering their electric car. This could totally remove the need for the traditional electricity pumped in to our houses by giant towers and kilometers of wire.
It will never be allowed to happen.
Unless the global corporations can find a way of ‘taxing’ us for it’s use on a monthly basis they will not be able to make any money out of it and will therefore stop this before it happens.
I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but it’s just too much of a killer to the big power generators.
If I have solar cells on my roof most power companies let me use the grid as a battery, and I only get charged for my net usage. This thing would have to be greater than 100% efficient to compete with that kind of proposition. Not to mention I still have to buy a fuel cell on top of this thing. And it’s made of platinum (which is cheap, I hear).
The main issue keeping people from putting solar cells on their houses isn’t what to do with the extra power during the day (that’s not even remotely a problem) it’s the cost of the cells and the installation.
This is interesting tech, but potentially only on the macro scale, where large photovoltaic arrays aren’t able to sell all of their power during the day, which is currently not a problem, and probably won’t be until we have a majority of our power coming from photovoltaics.
Joshua:
Let’s move past the hype and ask some serious questions.
How much solar collecting area will a typical home need to provide its daytime power needs plus produce enough H2 to meet its night and cloudy day needs?
Is that enough area in the dead of winter with shorter days and lower noon time elevation?
What happens when the panel gets covered with snow?
How will the H2 be stored?
How much will the storage system cost?
How will the H2 be converted into electricity?
If via fuel cell, how much does one large enough for a house cost?
If the system needs maintenance who will do it?
How many roof installers, on average will die from falls each year?
Where will used solar panels be recycled?
How does this meet the needs of small businesses that need more power per unit roof area?
What about multi-unit, multi-floor dwellings?
It could be encouraged to happen … and I think for the very questions Joshua asks…. Because not all areas will have enough sunlight to power their needs for the entire year …
> Is that enough area in the dead of winter with shorter days and lower noon time elevation?
probably not - however if the heading is from natural gas and/or wood stoves (not dependent on electricity) the needs could also be reduced during the winter months.
> What happens when the panel gets covered with snow?
No more power.
> How will the H2 be stored?
In a tank …
> How much will the storage system cost?
As much as it needs to cost. I would imagine such a storage system would last for decades - so it could be part of the cost of the house, for new houses and/or new owners … tax credits could encourage existing owners to spend.
> How will the H2 be converted into electricity?
It will be burned … in a generator - I would imagine.
> If via fuel cell, how much does one large enough for a house cost?
Probably more than a internal combustion engine (generator) running on H2 … how much to fuel cells cost for cars?
> If the system needs maintenance who will do it?
The repair man … clearly this would be a somewhat new industry, though I could see it as similar to natural gas (H2 is a gas …).
> How many roof installers, on average will die from falls each year? The same as any year - as rooves are constantly be replaced… and people have added solar (thermal and electric) panels to their rooves for years - not to mention chimneys and gutter cleaning …
> Where will used solar panels be recycled?
Many suburban and ubran places have large recycling facilities - that can handle almost anything. Also, if the items are getting recycled, I would imagine the contractors would do this - it may take a little time to get this started, but I would imagine there is going to be time as these panels should last years before needed to be replaced.
>How does this meet the needs of small businesses that need more power per unit roof area?
Business always want to save money - and if this cuts their cost by 20%, that’s huge for business. This does not have to meet 100% of anyone’s needs.
> What about multi-unit, multi-floor dwellings?
Same thing … and I would imagine it could also be possible to put solar panels along the outter wall of the building - on Sun facing sides … or setup the roof array so it maximizes Sun light throughout the day. Finally - you could build up - by several stories to increase the area of your solar panels …
This all sounds great, but I fail to understand how any home will be gathering enough sunlight through photovoltaic cells to power itself, let alone capture enough sunlight to store energy overnight, when the cells themselves are grossly inefficient at gathering sunlight to convert to energy in the first place.
At best, photovoltaic cells are operating at only 40% efficiency according to the DOE. At that rate, homeowners would be lucky to gather enough energy to run their air-conditioners on a hot day.
Not that this isn’t a positive step in the right direction, but the story seems a bit misleading. What Professor Nocera seems to have created is a viable method of creating hydrogen power, and nothing else. Whether it can ever produce enough energy to power ones home from solar energy seems more dependent on the efficiency of photovoltaic cells than anything else.
Paul- I have a 1.8 kW system that generates more electricity than the three of us use. We sell back to the electric company for a net profit. It depends how efficient people are with their electric use.
Sarah:
I would be willing to bet that you do not live in the southeast US.
I would really be interested in learning more about your family electricity usage and production from those panels. It would make a wonderful case study.
I’ve had solar panels since 1984 up here in Nova Scotia (where we do get winter!!). As the panels are slightly tilted and because they are solar collectors, the snow melts off quite fast as the first rays of sun hit them. I’ve never had to clear them off.