Magnesium Civilization, The

The use of fossil fuels damages the global environment, and supply of oil is becomming more unstable. However, it is difficult to replace whole fossil fuels with renewable energy like solar-cell. Magnesium recycling society is a promising solution against these problems. Seawater contains 1800 trillion tons of Magnesium and Magnesium can be smelted with "solar-pumped laser" created directly from sunlight, thus Magnesium acts as solar-energy reservoir. Magnesium can be used for metal-air-fuel cells for automobiles and powerplants. The automobile with Zinc-air-fuel cell achieved 600km mileage in 2003 and Magnesium-air-fuel cell can give 3 times more energy which is 7.5 times more effective than Lithium-ion battery. Solar-pumped laser regenerates metal Magnesium from combusted Magnesium oxide.

Moreover, low-cost desalination with solar-power will be a promising solution to the global water shortage. TIME magazine elected Prof. Yabe as one of "Heroes of the Environment 2009".