Yet another energy creator
by Neutron on Aug.08, 2005, under Nuclear, Research
Read an article today “Chemist Tries to Solve World’s Energy Woes” at Livescience. Chemist Dr. Daniel Nocera at MIT is trying to use the bountiful energy in sunlight to split water into its basic components, hydrogen and oxygen.
Well the research is still underway and is probably far from being complete but there could be some potential here. If it works, is practical and feasible, then in the future, we might be able to use something like this. Although i very seriously doubt the use of sunlight as a perpetual energy source for such a reaction, i would love to be proved wrong.
Here is an excerpt from the article where Dr. Nocera talks about future energy needs.
Nocera cites a calculation by Caltech chemist Nathan Lewis that power demands in 2050 will be so great that just to keep carbon dioxide emissions at twice preindustrial levels, a nuclear plant would have to be built every two days. There’s not enough room on the planet’s surface for other widely touted solutions such as wind and biomass to have much impact.
I seriously do not know on why people are so skeptical about the use of nuclear energy for producing power. It is much much safer and foolproof than it used to be; We can get almost limitless and perpetual energy if we produce fuel rods in Breeder reactors; It is environmentally friendly and clean. History has taught us a bad lesson about reactors but isn’t it time to move forward and think about how not to repeat the history by making advanced safety measures to avoid any kind of catastrophe. And safety is one of the important aspects that we are being taught. The end result is not just about producing power but to produce clean, safe power. And we are getting there …
I for one, strongly believe that reactors are the cleanest answer available to us to meet all the energy needs of the future. It is vital to realize this fact and start building reactors and reduce the usage of fossil fuels as much as possible before we end up imposing doom on ourselves soon. But oh well since economics and politics are involved in this earth saving venture, i know that we will wait until the situation that Norcera portrays in the excerpt is reached …
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2 Comments for this entry
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August 11th, 2005 on 8:23 AM
I have mused on the nuclear power stigma, as it represents the many cases where public opinion and policy are independent of fact. People in general get their information about nuclear fission from the Simpsons; the educated ones get it from Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. The long half-lives of the waste products are pretty much unavoidable, but I agree with you, and I think only the price of oil rising will change minds…
August 11th, 2005 on 2:27 PM
Very true. People in general are prejudiced about anything nuclear because of the accidents in early 80′s. Not many people do research on the current state of the industry before making a statement.
It is sad that earth’s future is in the hands of such people. Surely, economics might be the only way to make them understand. Like you said, it is not going to be long before oil becomes a rare commodity and price hits through the roof ! And then, we should see some change but hopefully it wont be too late to save the environment.