New Solar Technology from Peas?

[toastywombel]

Featured on Science Daily, really good article.

 

"If harnessing the unlimited solar power of the sun were easy, we wouldn't still have the greenhouse gas problem that results from the use of fossil fuel. And while solar energy systems work moderately well in hot desert climates, they are still inefficient and contribute only a small percentage of the general energy demand. A new solution may be coming from an unexpected source -- a source that may be on your dinner plate tonight."

 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100304112237.htm

[Mr Skeptic]

Well, using organic molecules to do photovoltaics might be interesting, but they are also fragile and susceptible to destruction. And I don't see how we'd go about replacing them in non-living systems.

[Horza2002]

My flat mate is currently doing his MChem project on using organic molcules as photovoltaic. Hes looking into making them more efficient and other ways to make them in the first place. According to him, that current area of research is attracting a lot of attention and also some good results!

[toastywombel]

Well, using organic molecules to do photovoltaics might be interesting, but they are also fragile and susceptible to destruction. And I don't see how we'd go about replacing them in non-living systems.

 

I think it would be nice if they somehow designed the cells to duplicate and heal themselves, or reproduce themselves if they get damage.

[Mr Skeptic]

I think it would be nice if they somehow designed the cells to duplicate and heal themselves, or reproduce themselves if they get damage.

 

Indeed. And if they needed materials, maybe they could draw them from the soil or from the air.

[Zolar V]

I think it would be nice if they somehow designed the cells to duplicate and heal themselves, or reproduce themselves if they get damage.

 

i actually have thought of this idea a while back, that is using the photovoltic cells in various plant systems to produce energy from interactions with solar energy. and i came across the same type of error. The fragility and suseptability to being damaged is the prime componenet to why these lines of ideas have not been researched. However in my opinion the easiest way to "heal" or "regrow" the molecules would be to introduce the whole process to bacteria via splicing. You could slowly build each layer of the system up by using different layers of bacteria. ie Bacteria (A) has gene (A) that does (A)

bacteria (B) has Gene(B) that take in the byproduct of (A) and makes (B) and so on.

 

you could have the potential food for the bacteria be something like hydrogen made by using a slight amount of the energy to split water vapor in the air. OR you could have a seperate system of bacteria that uses either the sun or w/e you can come up with to produce a product(this systems food) and a byproduct( the bacteria a,b systems food).

[swansont]

It's nice to see some people are giving peas a chance. That's all I'm saying.

[toastywombel]

It's nice to see some people are giving peas a chance. That's all I'm saying.

 

I know, it seems lately that every body is talking about

ministers, sinisters, banisters and canisters,

bishops and fishops and rabbis and pop eyes,

[Phi for All]

I'd hate to see this end up with the problems that crop subsidies generate. Whenever farmers sell to energy concerns because the prices are better, millions of the poorest people die of starvation.