Biosolar breakthrough promises cheap, easy green electricity

Barry D Bruce, professor of biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology, at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is turning the term "power plant" on its head. The biochemist and a team of researchers have developed a system that taps into photosynthetic processes to produce efficient and inexpensive energy. Bruce collaborated with researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Ecole Polytechnique Federal in Switzerland to develop a process that improves the efficiency of generating electric power using molecular structures extracted from plants. The biosolar breakthrough has the potential to make "green" electricity dramatically cheaper and easier.

"The system is a preferred method of sustainable energy because it is clean and potentially very efficient", said Bruce, who was name one of "Ten Revolutionaries that May Change the World" by Forbes magazine in 2007 for his early work, which first demonstrated biosolar electricity generation. "As opposed to conventional photovoltaic solar power systems, we are using renewable biological materials rather than toxic chemicals to generate energy. Likewise, our system will require less time, land, water and input of fossil fuels to produce energy than most biofuels", Their findings are in the current issue of Nature: Scientific Reports.