As I have mentioned in previous posts I am excited about alternative energy (wind, solar, fuel cells). In browsing the WEB news today I came across an article that literally had me bouncing in my seat.

It seems that Daniel Nocera, an MIT professor of energy, has been tinkering with coming up with a better means to split Hydrogen from water. By better, I mean more efficient than current and traditional means not to mention safer and less hazardously.

Splitting Hydrogen off in and of itself is not a miracle. I have done many times before using nothing more than a 9 volt battery and some wire.

Where Daniel's advancements make me excited though are from the implications of using this as a storage mechanism to allow you to capture the sunlight during the day (say through a photovoltaic array) saving it as a potential energy (in the form of Hydrogen) and then being able to safely and cleanly be able to use it on demand (via a fuel cell).

When it comes down to it, aside from Nuclear power, all other power sources mimic this process.

Coal, oil, natural gas, wood, grass pellets all do the same thing. They are representations of solar power collected through the biosphere and stored away.

Even wind power takes off on this concept when you consider that wind is simply capturing and converting the mommentum of air caused by the warming and cooling actions of having (or not having) sunlight.

So, read the article and see what you think.