Scientists on the College of California, Davis (UC Davis) and the College of Padova have developed a brand new technique of harvesting power, which permits daylight to be was electrical energy whereas additionally feeding vegetation rising underground. of photo voltaic panels.
“This paper is a door opener for every kind of technological advances,” mentioned Majdi Abou Najm, affiliate professor at UC Davis and corresponding writer of the paper. “Right now’s photo voltaic panels take all the sunshine and attempt to make the very best of it. However what if a brand new era of photovoltaics captures the blue gentle for clear power and transmits the crimson gentle to vegetation, the place is it best for photosynthesis?”
Photo voltaic panels that take up gentle whereas transmitting chosen colours to vegetation can assist enhance meals manufacturing. (?: Camporese and others)
The concept is easy: divide daylight into completely different colours and discover out which colour works finest for which process. Blue gentle, the workforce discovered, is finest for feeding photo voltaic panels to provide electrical energy — whereas crimson gentle is finest for feeding vegetation to develop meals. By creating photo voltaic panels that take up one spectrum of sunshine whereas permitting one other to cross by way of, it’s potential to mix each duties in a single place.
“We can’t feed two billion extra folks in 30 years by being extra water environment friendly and persevering with as we’re doing,” mentioned Abou Najm. “We’d like one thing to alter, to not add. If we deal with the solar as a useful resource, we are able to work with the shade and generate electrical energy whereas producing vegetation beneath. The kilowatt-hour turns into the second harvest that you could be reap.”
Researchers have discovered that crimson gentle is finest for vegetation and blue for power harvesting. (?: Andre Daccache/UC Davis)
To show the idea, the workforce examined specifically constructed panels with tomato vegetation beneath – bathing one of many vegetation in blue gentle, and the opposite in crimson. These below crimson gentle flourished in comparison with their blue brothers – displaying that combining photo voltaic era and agriculture in a single subject is, in actual fact, a possible technique to extend the supply of power and meals. Even higher, by shading the soil from direct daylight using water is vastly diminished.
The workforce’s work is printed within the journal Future Earth below open-access phrases.
