Barry Bruce, 50
Biochemist
University of Tennessee
Everyone agrees that we need new ways to meet the energy demands of the future, but there's little consensus on how to do it. Nuclear fission? Cleaner coal? Bio-diesel?
Barry Bruce is one of a small handful of researchers suggesting an entirely different road. Nature has its own incredibly efficient way of producing power from the sun--photosynthesis--so why not put it to work?
"Essentially, you grow a power plant in a field or in a fermenter," says Bruce, an associate professor at the University of Tennessee's Center for Environmental Biotechnology. "You don't have to pay for it in any real way other than allowing photosynthesis to do what it's done for billions of years."
Bruce and his colleagues poach particles from photosynthetic plants or bacteria and form them into so-called "nanoclusters" on small assemblages of metallic platinum. These photosystems produce very high-energy electrons that can be siphoned off for direct electrical power or used to stimulate the production of hydrogen atoms, usable as fuel in anything from cars to homes.
The system is far preferable to conventional photovoltaic solar power systems, because it doesn't require the complex manufacturing process of solar cells, which uses a number of toxic and limited materials. And since the photosynthetic particles are easily harvested--Bruce extracts them from garden-variety spinach using a standard kitchen food processor--it should be a lot cheaper.
It's also far more sustainable than most other energy production systems. "The motor, the engine you're using, is being built by nature using sunlight," says Bruce. "This can scale--it can be made in a highly decentralized manner. Every place on the planet can grow spinach."
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