In a new study, Yale researcher Alison Sweeney found that giant clams in the Western Pacific may be the most efficient solar energy system on the planet.
In a new study, Yale researcher Alison Sweeney found that giant clams in the Western Pacific may be the most efficient solar energy system on the planet.
Solar panel and biorefinery designers could learn a thing or two from iridescent giant clams living near tropical coral reefs, according to a new Yale-led study.
This is because giant clams have precise geometries — dynamic, vertical columns of photosynthetic receptors covered by a thin, light-scattering layer — that may just make them the most efficient solar energy systems on Earth.
“It’s counter-intuitive to a lot of people, because clams operate in intense sunlight, but actually they’re really dark on the inside,” said Alison Sweeney, associate professor of physics and of ecology and evolutionary biology in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. “The truth is that clams are more efficient at solar energy conversion than any existing solar panel technology.”
Read more at Yale University
Photo Credit: csharker via Pixabay
