Scientists Test Artificial Sun in Effort to Make Climate-Friendly Fuel

Made up of a group of 149 spotlights, the artificial sun that scientists from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) call Synlight, was set up in Juelich, Germany, about 19 miles west of Cologne to simulate natural sunlight, according to The Associated Press.

Researchers focused the light on a single 8-by-8 inch spot to produce the equivalent of 10,000 times the amount of solar radiation that would normally shine on the same surface, the AP noted.

Bernhard Hoffschmidt, the director of DLR's Institute for Solar Research, told the AP that creating conditions with temperatures that reach 5,432 degrees Fahrenheit is the gateway into making hydrogen, considered the fuel of the future that leaves no carbon emission when burned.

Eventually, the hydrogen made could be the dominating fuel source for airplanes and cars, The Guardian reported. The challenge is that the Synlight consumes a lot of energy.

Operating Synlight consumes as much electricity in four hours as a family of four uses in a household for an entire year, The Guardian noted. Researchers hope to use natural sunlight to eventually produce hydrogen.

"We'd need billions of tons of hydrogen if we wanted to drive aeroplanes and cars on CO2-free fuel," Hoffschmidt said, according to The Guardian. "Climate change is speeding up so we need to speed up innovation."

Solar power stations have been successful in using mirrors to direct sunlight onto water, harnessing heat from the sun to produce steam that turns turbines and generates electricity, the Guardian pointed out.

The DLR is the national aeronautics and space research center in Germany and does extensive research and development work in aeronautics, space, energy, transport, and security that is integrated into national, and international cooperative ventures, according to its website.

The DLR also plans and implements the German space program. DLR is also the umbrella organization for the nation's largest project management agency.

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