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Barry D. Bruce, University of Tennessee’s most influential biochemist, has been working with researchers at MIT and Ecole Polytechnique Federale in Switzerland for a while to produce sustainable biosolar energy. In the most recent issue of Nature: Scientific Reports, Bruce and his team of researchers asserted that they had discovered a way to extract energy from plants during the process of photosynthesis.

According to their research, endless amounts of energy could be harnessed from plants during the photosynthesis process. If Bruce and his team are able to implement this energy extraction from plants on a large scale, we could see a dramatic shift in how we power up our lives.

This new, innovative way to produce energy is made possible by a step in photosynthesis called photosystem-I. Barry D. Bruce and other biochemists figured out how to mine energy from the photosystem-I step in the photosynthesis process of blue-green algae. A zinc oxide semi-conductor created by the biochemists is able to harness electricity during photosystem-I.

Bruce’s zinc oxide semi-conductor is made up of tubes that attract particles associated with photosystem-I. As soon as sunlight hits the blue-green algae used by the biochemists, the photosystem-I particles create electrons that bring about an electrical current in the semi-conductor.

There are still a few kinks to work out before we can begin to use energy produced during photosynthesis. However, Bruce’s system of extracting green energy seems to be working, and it won’t be hard for other biochemists to replicate what he’s doing and figure out how to improve upon it.