A team of researchers from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) has developed a paint that can be used to generate clean energy, reports from Futurism and RMIT’s website have indicated.

The paint, according to the reports combines the titanium oxide already used in many wall paints with a new compound called synthetic molybdenum-sulphide.

The compound then acts a lot like the silica gel packaged with many consumer products to keep them free from damage by absorbing moisture.

The material from the reports, absorbs solar energy as well as moisture from the surrounding air, and can then split the water into hydrogen and oxygen, thus collecting the hydrogen for use in fuel cells or to power a vehicle.

Lead researcher, Dr. Torben Daeneke, said: “The simple addition of the new material can convert a brick wall into energy harvesting and fuel production real estate.”

Though the paint won’t go commercial within the next five years, Daeneke however stated that he believes the end product will be cheap to produce.

He also claimed the paint would be effective in a variety of climates, from damp environments to hot and dry ones near large bodies of water.

“Any place that has water vapor in the air, even remote areas far from water, can produce fuel,” he added.

Also, the paint could be used to cover areas that may not get enough sunlight to justify the placement of solar panels, thus maximizing the capability of any property to generate clean energy.

This thus means that any surface that could be painted, from a fence, to a shed, or doghouse, could be transformed into an energy-producing structure.

The paint would when it comes into the hands of consumers, become part of the growing list of innovative technologies that are moving humanity away from fossil fuels and toward a clean, renewable energy sources.