Could photosynthesis solve the world’s energy problems?
Is there anything new to add to a debate that seems to have reached stalemate? The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has spoken again, but does anyone expect government policies or public opinion to change much as a result? Fortunately, Keith Barnham does have something new to say: he cuts through the current morass of fossil-fuel and nuclear lobbyists’ negative propaganda with a clear and original vision for solar power.
He begins with Einstein’s two great equations from 1905 and traces the consequences that led to our present impasse. You already know one of them, but the other, simpler equation, describing the interconvertibility of light and electricity (the photoelectric effect), is the equation that led to the silicon solar cell. Barnham argues that E = mc² is Bad and E = hf is Good.