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Enzymes could solve energy crisis

Institute of Physics

14 April 2005

Enzymes could solve energy crisis, says Nobel laureate

Tomorrow (Wednesday 13th April) Nobel laureate Steven Chu will reveal how enzymes could solve the world’s energy crisis. He will also tell scientists gathered in Warwick for the Institute of Physics conference Physics 2005 that the development of carbon-neutral energy sources is “the most important problem science needs to solve”.

For over a billion years, life on earth has turned the Sun’s rays into stored chemical energy, and used enzymes to manipulate that energy into useful forms. Global agriculture can already feed the world’s population, and though there is a serious distribution problem the excess food could be harnessed and turned into a useful form of energy. Enzymes could convert this low-grade energy in the form of cellulose into fuels such as ethanol, as part of a carbon-neutral energy cycle.

Speaking at the Institute of Physics conference Physics 2005 in Warwick Dr Chu, who won the 1997 Nobel Prize for Physics, will highlight the ingenious ways in which evolution has solved complex problems. The human ear for example, he explains, is “a very elegant engineering solution.” So too are the ribosomes which endlessly and near-flawlessly translate genetic codes into proteins. “Learning about Nature’s ingenuity is thrilling by itself,” says Chu, “but these can also be a source of new and revolutionary technology.” By understanding how nature has overcome problems, scientists could harness the evolutionary solutions and exploit them in new ways.

Calling it “the most important problem which must be solved by science,” Dr Chu will focus on the need for CO2-neutral energy sources. Oil and gas production is likely to peak within a generation. Heavily polluting coal could be strung out for a few centuries. But Chu says biological organisms could be the key to efficient new ways of harvesting energy.

Modern science may be even able to use micro-organisms or biology-inspired enzymes to convert sunlight, water, CO2 and sustainable nutrients into chemical energy.

“If we don’t cure cancer or heart disease in 50 years,” says Chu,” the world will go on. But if we can’t solve this energy problem, our planet will be in real trouble.”

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