Tomorrow’s free energy vision

Solar cells up close (Credit: Clearly Ambiguous on Flickr)

I reported and wrote this post for  Science in the Triangle, where it appeared first:

Energy woes are pervasive in the news and loom heavy in people’s minds these days. Even though grassroot supports exists for alternative energy development throughout the nation, significant and vast change is slow to gain inertia. So it was with interest and an open mind that I attended a lecture last Tuesday at Sigma Xi in Research Triangle Park where Alex Huang, director of the Future Renewable Electric Energy Delivery and Management Systems (FREEDM Systems), discussed what his group was working on to mitigate what he called “the looming energy crisis.”

Solar fuels

UNC Arts & Sciences, fall 2009

Last summer, I wrote two pieces on renewable energy for U.N.C. at Chapel Hill’s Carolina Arts & Sciences magazine, and the publication is now out. “Solar Heroes” is the cover story and includes some beautiful photography by Steve Exum. You can download a PDF copy of the magazine from their website.

The main story, “From Photons to Fuels” covers research into photocatalysis, or water splitting, as well as other forms of solar fuels. It starts like this:

There is a lot to covet in a green, leafy plant. Especially if you are scouting for sustainable solutions to the world’s worsening fossil fuel crisis. For about three billion years,