Scientists in Germany have switched on what is being described as the world's largest artificial sun - a device they hope will help shed light on new ways of making climate-friendly fuels.

The giant honeycomb-like set-up of 149 spotlights - officially known as Synlight - in Juelich, about 20 miles west of Cologne, uses xenon short-arc lamps normally found in cinemas to simulate natural sunlight which is often in short supply in Germany at this time of year.

By focusing the entire array on a single 8x8in spot, scientists from the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) will be able to produce the equivalent of 10,000 times the amount of solar radiation which would normally shine on the same surface.

Creating such furnace-like conditions - with temperatures of up to 3,000C - is key to testing novel ways of making hydrogen, according to Bernhard Hoffschmidt, the director of DLR's institute for solar research.

Many consider hydrogen to be the fuel of the future because it produces no carbon emissions when burned, meaning it does not add to global warming.

Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe, but free, uncombined hydrogen gas is relatively rare on earth. One way to manufacture hydrogen is to split water into its two components - the other being oxygen - using electricity in a process called electrolysis.

Researchers hope to bypass the electricity stage by tapping into the enormous amount of energy that reaches Earth in the form of light from the sun.

Mr Hoffschmidt said the dazzling display is designed to take experiments done in smaller labs to the next level, adding that once researchers have mastered hydrogen-making techniques with Synlight's 350-kilowatt array, the process could be scaled up tenfold on the way to reaching a level fit for industry in about a decade.

The goal is to eventually use actual sunlight rather than the artificial light produced at the Juelich experiment, which cost 3.5 million euros to build and requires as much electricity in four hours as a four-person household would use in a year.

Mr Hoffschmidt conceded that hydrogen is not without its problems - for one thing, it is incredibly volatile - but by combining it with carbon monoxide produced from renewable sources, scientists would, for example, be able to make eco-friendly fuel for the aviation industry.

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