US Researchers Replicate Photosynthesis

This could be fantastic news!

Scientists have made a fundamental breakthrough in their attempts to replicate photosynthesis – the ability of plants to harvest the power of sunlight – in the hope of making unlimited amounts of "green" energy from water and sunlight alone.

The researchers have assembled genetically modified viruses into wire-like structures that are able to use the energy of the sun to split water molecules into their constitute parts of oxygen and hydrogen, which can then be used as a source of chemical energy.

If the process can be scaled up and made more efficient, it promises to produce unlimited quantities of hydrogen fuel, a clean source of energy that can be used to generate electricity as well as acting as a portable, carbon-free fuel for cars and other vehicles.

Replicating photosynthesis – in which plants convert sunlight into a store of chemical energy – has been a dream of the alternative energy business for decades. The drive was given an extra boost yesterday with warnings by the US military that there could be serious global oil shortages by 2015.

Splitting water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen is seen as a critical first step in this process of artificial photosynthesis. Although it is possible to split the molecules using solar electricity, the process is not very efficient. In the latest study, scientists were able to split water directly with sunlight, without using solar panels…

Inserted from <Common Dreams>

It will likely be a few years before this becomes commercially viable.  My biggest fear is that, since greedy US corporations often choose against developing products that do not turn an immediate profit, the process will be sold overseas.