Scientists at the Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore are in the process of designing a dream Solar panel.

A solar panel that would not produce electricity, or heat, but it would produce oil.

Yes, that’s the new big story making headlines in the world of sciences, and one man who is responsible to initiate the whole process is the eminent ecologist T.V. Ram Chandra.

Just imagine the difference it would make to the entire mankind if such a venture gets completed successfully. The rising fuel prices and the shortage of gasoline which had given headache to various governments at times could well turn out to be the thing of the past. 

How would a solar panel produce oil? The solar panel would contain single celled marine plant from the algae family called diatoms which produces oil.

The solar panel would trap sunlight to produce oil from tiny microscopic diatom plants. Though the venture seems to be a novel idea, still there is enough evidence to believe that the idea would work.

Image via Wikipedia

If you don’t know what diatoms are, then here is a small description about diatoms.

Diatoms are microscopic plants that appear as a brownish slippery coating on sunken stones. These diatoms lie in ocean beds and deposits oil in ocean and sea beds.

These oils in turn results in petroleum.

It means that diatom fossils over a million years ago had resulted in petroleum reserves now.

The most significant part of diatom is its weight. 25% of diatom’s weight is pure oil and that is enough to make scientists think that they could do something about it.

The studies points out that diatom has a very high growth rate and scientists have concluded that diatom cultivated on one acre of land could produce 80 barrels of oil.

How scientists would use a solar panel remains to be seen?

There are many international organizations who had decided to fund the project. If things work out then the world could witness a drastic drop in fuel prices and dramatic change in world economy.

May be the present times need a magical touch of brilliance from someone to get the world out of the present economic mess.