Originally published August 15 2005
Scientist tries to stop approaching energy crisis
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Daniel Nocera ,a U.S. chemist, works long hours every day in an attempt to discover how the sun's energy can be used to stem the upcoming energy crisis.
A U.S. chemist is trying to determine how the world will produce enough energy to supply 9 billion people by mid-century --- and whether that can be done without pumping off-the-charts amounts of carbon dioxide into the air.
Daniel Nocera, 48, is working to achieve an old, elusive dream: using the bountiful energy in sunlight to split water into its basic components, hydrogen and oxygen.
Sunlight kickstarts a reaction in which leaves break down water and carbon dioxide and turn them into oxygen and sugar, which plants use for fuel.
Nocera and other scientists are trying to replicate that --- and perhaps improve on it --- in decades.
Currently, it is chiefly harvested from fossil fuels, whose use is the main cause of carbon dioxide emissions blamed for global warming.
And so while hydrogen fuel cells --- in which hydrogen and oxygen combine to produce electricity and water --- have a green reputation, their long-term promise could be limited unless the hydrogen they consume comes from clean sources.
As a result, Nocera believes it might be 20 years before engineers might design systems based on his work.
And he frets that too few scientists are exploring the problem, with many top minds instead focused on biomedical research.
Critics of that vision say many energy technologies being explored --- including improved ways of storing electricity and different kinds of fuel cells --- will come online in the next few decades and throw off today's extrapolations about the future.
It's part of his blunt enthusiasm, which manifests itself when he discusses the joys of teaching chemistry to freshmen ("They love me") or when he meets with his grad students to discuss the status of their research.
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