A couple of weeks ago, I attended a presentation by Dr. K.V. Lakshmi on the design of bio-inspired solar energy devices. Solar engery is a cornerstone in the effort to find sources for green energy. Yes, this is still in the research phase and commercialization is not on the immediate horizon, but Dr. Lakshmi has the expertise, equipment, resources, backing, and personality needed to make great strides in an area of intense opportunity for finding clean sources of renewable energy.
The need for this research is great. In 2000, the world consumed 12.8TW (terawatt) and it is projected in 2050 that we will consume 35TW globally (1). To give you an idea of the scale of a watt, here are some examples:
• 1W is used every time you turn on and off your laptop
• 1KW to use your toaster
• 1MW is used when a plane lands or takes off
• 1GW is used to power a nuclear power plant
According to Lewis and Nocera, the proportions of what type of energy is consumed hasn’t changed. Furthermore, we will need to generate 60 terawatts around the world to keep 10 billion people accustomed to certain levels of energy consumption happy (2). So if the proportions haven’t changed, then how are we going to fill the deficit? Is it going to come from nuclear, hydro, wind, or solar? Dr. Lakshmi is placing her bets on solar.
The potential for solar energy is huge and not new to anyone. Theoretically, there is 14TW for a year in 1 hour of sunlight . The potential to harness energy by capturing energy from photosynthesis has been around for a while. In 1999, New Scientist magazine called this opportunity the “Green Miracle”. But the cost of obtaining solar energy is very high compared to other sources, so harnessing this energy with high efficiency is key. Dr. Lakshmi believes that her approach in looking at solar conversion not solely as an engineering problem but as a transformational science problem is the answer.
To produce chemical energy, photosynthesis has a catalytic efficiency of greater than 95% whereas bisolar is only 7 to 10% efficient. So her goal to find a way of tuning and controlling the molecular catalytic process in photosynthesis is one she believes can help in realizing these efficiencies.
As a premier biophysicist Dr. Lakshmi is trained in NMR and pulsed multi-frequency EPR spectroscopy methods and has equipment at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute that can help her and her team watch photosynthesis in real-time. Learn more about Dr. Lakshmi and her work on harnessing solar energy as a renewable energy source.
(1) Lewis and Nocera. Powering the Planet: Chemical challenges in solar energy diffusion. http://www.pnas.org/content/103/43/15729.abstract
(2) Smalley, Richard E. Future Global Energy Prosperity: The Terawatt Challenge.