There has never been a better time to make clean energy. Leading the way are wind and solar power, but they may soon have competition because scientists in Australia have found a way to pull energy out of thin air. This is like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat.
Dr. Rhys Grinter, Ph.D. student Ashleigh Kropp, and Professor Chris Greening from Melbourne, Australia’s Monash University Biomedicine Discovery Institute are the performers in this story. Their results were published in the scientific magazine Nature.
But this isn’t a magic trick for kids. From a common soil bacteria, these scientists made and studied an enzyme that uses hydrogen. The Huc enzyme pulls hydrogen out of the air and turns it into electricity.
As we try to move away from dirty energy, it is important to find other ways to get power. When we mine, drill for, and burn dirty energy sources like coal, crude oil, and natural gas, we hurt our health and the environment in many ways.
Burning these dirty energy sources makes the gases that cause our world to get too hot. Mining and drilling for these resources pollutes the air and water, putting our health and the health of plants and animals at risk. Not to mention that the dangerous methods of mining hurt the health of the people who do them.
Finding a clean, renewable natural source of electricity is exciting news and a big step toward a cleaner, cooler world and away from dirty energy.
The Huc enzyme was taken from a bacteria called Mycobacterium smegmatis by scientists from Australia. It turns out that many bacteria can use hydrogen from the air as a source of energy, even in places where there aren’t many nutrients.
Professor Greening said, “We’ve known for a while that bacteria can use the small amounts of hydrogen in the air as a source of energy to help them grow and stay alive, even in Antarctic soils, volcanic craters, and the deep ocean.” “But until now, we didn’t know how they did it.”
Kropp’s research shows that pure Huc can be kept for a long time and can turn tiny amounts of hydrogen into electric currents.
“It is amazing how stable it is. Kropp said, “The enzyme can be frozen or heated to 80 degrees Celsius [176 degrees Fahrenheit], and it will still be able to make energy.” “This shows that this enzyme helps bacteria live in the harshest conditions.”
The amazing story of Huc keeps getting better because the bacteria that make the enzyme can be grown in large numbers, making it a very sustainable resource. It’s like pulling an endless number of rabbits out of a hat.
Even though the study is still in its early stages, this discovery could be a big step forward in clean energy. The next step is to make a lot of Huc. Then, as Dr. Grinter put it, “the sky is the limit” in terms of how it can be used to make clean energy.
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