Scientists from Cambridge, led by Erwin Reisner, state that in only a couple of decades everyone will have their own mini power station in their flat, able to produce electrical energy and even fuel for a car out of only three readily available substrates. The essence of the method is the use of carbon dioxide and sunlight as the basis for producing electrical energy. In the future such devices may be able to supply the work of large enterprises.
At present a person has to use natural mineral resources to produce 80% of the energy needed to support their life. This gives cause to think about the future.
All these mineral resources are exhaustible, and so research into possible alternative methods of generating energy is the most important task of our generation.
To generate electrical energy Reisner uses the reaction in which carbon dioxide and water are split by the action of solar energy. The products of such a reaction are synthesis gas or hydrogen, which is used as a fuel of environmentally clean quality. From what is obtained it is then possible to produce a liquid hydrocarbon of the kind that the engines of some models of car run on.
The technology of this way of producing energy was itself borrowed by the research team from micro-organisms. To produce hydrogen from water many bacteria make hydrogenases, specific enzymes that split water. At present, thanks to molecular engineering, a molecule able to produce hydrogen has been grown artificially, which opens new horizons in the development of alternative methods of energy production by scientists.
The use of hydrogen as an additive to the main fuel in cars has long been known and successfully applied. It helps the fuel to burn better, improving the efficiency of the engine, which saves a substantial amount of fuel. According to the scientists' assumptions, however, most engines will soon run entirely on hydrogen.
The researchers suppose that the new technology will not spread on a large scale before 2030, since it entails global changes in the organisation of the whole fuel and energy complex.