Speaking of energy, this is a new simple and practical technique developed by MIT to store solar-generated energy.
Wow. That is amazing. That's really the MIT site, not some spoof? That is truly a gamechanger if it works.
I'd run this one through Snopes....
Bit confused by this purported "new development". Generating H and O from water by running a current through the water between two electrodes has been around forever. I remember my high school science teacher doing so in class back in 1977 (dating myself, I know). It has been proposed before to store wind and solar power as hydrogen. I'm not sure exactly why this is considered such a breakthrough. The article is unclear regarding this. I'm also not sure what photosynthesis has to do with this.
Inspired by the photosynthesis performed by plants, Nocera and Matthew Kanan, a postdoctoral fellow in Nocera's lab, have developed an unprecedented process that will allow the sun's energy to be used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. Later, the oxygen and hydrogen may be recombined inside a fuel cell, creating carbon-free electricity to power your house or your electric car, day or night.The key component in Nocera and Kanan's new process is a new catalyst that produces oxygen gas from water; another catalyst produces valuable hydrogen gas. The new catalyst consists of cobalt metal, phosphate and an electrode, placed in water. When electricity -- whether from a photovoltaic cell, a wind turbine or any other source -- runs through the electrode, the cobalt and phosphate form a thin film on the electrode, and oxygen gas is produced.Combined with another catalyst, such as platinum, that can produce hydrogen gas from water, the system can duplicate the water splitting reaction that occurs during photosynthesis.The new catalyst works at room temperature, in neutral pH water, and it's easy to set up, Nocera said. "That's why I know this is going to work. It's so easy to implement," he said.
Now what are you going to do about making a much larger supply of clean fresh ph neutral water so you have enough to make the fuel cell viable for the masses?
The world's largest plant in Saudi Arabia produces 128 MGD of desalted water.
If you want something badly enough, you can find the means to get it.