By mimicking plants’ energy storage systems, MIT scientists have created solar energy storage for when the sun don’t shine. Coupled with the skyrocketing cost of coal and the onset of massive rate hikes for electricity, this development only further increases both the utility and cost competitiveness of renewable energy. Go MIT!

Requiring nothing but abundant, non-toxic natural materials, this discovery could unlock the most potent, carbon-free energy source of all: the sun. “This is the nirvana of what we’ve been talking about for years,” said MIT’s Daniel Nocera, the Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy at MIT and senior author of a paper describing the work in the July 31 issue of Science. “Solar power has always been a limited, far-off solution. Now we can seriously think about solar power as unlimited and soon.

Color me intrigued!