Technology that copies biology can come to play a crucial part in future energy production and reduction of the CO2-emissions.
Researchers have made a molecule that turns water into hydrogen. Thereby we have come a step closer to the hydrogen society, where hydrogen is used to power the electric devices in the house, so that we can become independent of fossil fuels and bio-fuel, which deducts massive quantities of CO2.The molecule can split water into oxygen, hydrogen ions and electrons just as it happens during the photosynthesis in the green leaves. It has been developed by Christine McKenzie and her research team at the University of Southern Denmark. A future scenario is that all rooftops in the world will be equipped with a container filled with water and a whole new type of solar cell, which contains the home-made molecules.
Contact:
Christine McKenzie Professor at the Department of Physics and Chemistry, e-mail:chk@ifk.sdu.dk, Tel:+45 65502518 el. 45 65503520
Related links:
Article from Ny Viden (New Knowledge) November 2006
The Global Fairytale - Basel in Switzerland
Chases hydrogen energy with home-made robots
Very simple, artificial cells will one day see the light of day and the hope is that the artificial life will take us closer to the truth about how life on earth arose and what life is. It sounds like pure science fiction, but it is one of the visions that Professor Steen Rasmussen and his international team of biologists, physicists and chemists have while they chase their great goal in the laboratories at the University of Southern Denmark: To find out of what life is by creating life from the foundation. It does not say anything in particular about climate and environment on his agenda, but he has no doubts that there are green perspectives in the centre's search for artificial life. He believes for instance, that living technology will be able to help transform carbon dioxide (CO2) into harmless gravel. Living technology will be powerful. Just like the wheel, the internal combustion engine and the computer are all technologies that changed our living conditions in a fundamental way.
Contact:
Steen Rasmussen Professor and Head of Basic Living Technology, e-mail:steen@ifk.sdu.dk, Tel: +45 6550 2507, mobil 60112507
Related links:
Chemical robots are going to remove poisons
Living technology is green
Researchers cancel Judgement Day
The hunt for artificial life
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