Partly Cloudy with a Chance of Jelly

Flying cars, space suits, and solar energy.

When we picture humanity a century down the road, these images often come to mind. But, setting aside the flying cars and space suits, will solar power actually be the energy of our future? And should it be?

I’m sure you have heard plenty about solar power, and undoubtedly have come face to face with its sleek yet gangly, panels perched on rooftops and sprawling across grassy hills beside the road on cross-country road trips before. Being the poster child for clean energy comes with the fame.

And don’t get me wrong, solar power is an incredible advancement and a definite upgrade from fossil fuels, but it is far from flawless. Beneath the uplifting photographs of warm sunlight glimmering on these midnight beauties, offset by an optimistic blue-sky backdrop, this clean energy celeb might not be all that.

Photo courtesy of David Blalkle.

For one, solar power has never quite figured out how to be fashionably late, or even on-time, for that matter. Instead, it shows up to the party 6 hours too early and peters itself out before its even time to take the stage! According to The Daily Caller, peak energy demand typically occurs around 6 pm or later, often well after sunset, yet solar cells max out around noontime and wane until reaching zero in nighttime. And to complicate matters, current technology for solar power storage is both pricey and ineffective.

Solar panels themselves also cost a pretty penny and often contain silicon or other semiconductor materials (or in the case of Grätzel Cells, titanium) that require high energy or high cost processes to form. 

But unfavorable environmental conditions and space limitations keep solar power in check, and in these cases, where solar power cannot meet its quotas, we are entirely dependent on fossil fuels to pick up the slack! Otherwise, can you imagine a cloudy day meaning no lights, no business, or no running water?

So where else can we turn on these cloudy days? Surprisingly enough, our friendly neighborhood jellyfish might be our best bet.

Photo of Aequorea victoria or "crystal jellyfish" by Jim G.

Jellyfish? Really?

Sure, jellies may not seem like much beyond squishy blobs with inconveniently placed tentacles, but nearly a decade ago, scientists found a new molecule, now known as green fluorescent protein or GFP, in Aequorea victoria, a glow-in-the-dark jellyfish. This protein is able to emit green light when it absorbs light or some other form of radiation.

Imagine my surprise to learn that one of the tools I use daily for fluorescent microscopy in the lab (GFP is widely used in biochemistry research), is the product of what CNN calls “jellyfish smoothies” and doubles as a renewable energy source!

According the scientists at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden who developed this technology, here’s the recipe for mini-jellyfish fuel cells:

1. Purée your jellies and extract the GFP. Or, thanks to the magic of biotechnology, save the jellies and let bacteria manufacture the GFP from its DNA template instead!

2. Put a drop of GFP on an aluminum electrode.

3. Shine some UV light on it.

And voilá! You have yourself some flowing electrons and an electrical current! Enjoy your mini light-power fuel cell!

Pro Tip: You can go above and beyond by using luciferase enzymes from fireflies and seas pansies to generate the light needed in Step 3. Now the cell is entirely self-sufficient!

Of course, this electric current is a whopping “tens of nano-amperes,” and this GFP fuel cell requires extensive scaling up and refinement, but it would be more efficient, affordable, reliable, and sustainable than modern solar energy. Not only do proteins such as GFP pose little to no environmental mal-effects, but they can also be replicated and mass produced using biotechnology and limited solely via amino acids, RNA, and the DNA blueprint.

However, an effort to revolutionize this nanotechnology into an apparatus for the macroscopic world would take a great deal of time, money, work, and innovation. (Talk about an understatement.) But this jellyfish fuel cell falls into an emerging field called biosolar energy. Biosolar power is an effort to harness light energy using biological molecules.

Nature has orchestrated countless beautifully efficient phenomenon, and taken care of the frustration of trial and error for us already. Shouldn’t we follow her lead?

So, what about a future of flying cars, space suits, and jellyfish energy (surely the first among many types)? I certainly don’t see why not.