Breakthrough Solar Cell Captures Carbon Dioxide And Sunlight, Produces Burnable Fuel

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‘The ability to turn CO2 into fuel at a cost comparable to a gallon of gasoline would render fossil fuels obsolete…’
 
Deus_tecum said:
It may not be wise to suck all the CO2 out of the air.
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Well, there is no chance of that happening. If CO2 is used to make fuel, and that fuel is burned, you get CO2 back. Everything comes out even. The only way you could deplete CO2 with this method is if you used it to make huge quantities of this synthetic fuel, but then never used it! But the whole point of making synthetic fuel is to use it.
 
If this is real, then it’s pretty dang awesome.

I have my doubts, but still, it’s an exciting possibility.
 
Exiled_Child said:
‘The ability to turn CO2 into fuel at a cost comparable to a gallon of gasoline would render fossil fuels obsolete…’
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Yes, I suppose so. Can it be done? Perhaps, but that achievement doesn’t seem to be anywhere close to realization.

Still, this laboratory finding sounds very promising. I do not doubt that the University of Illinois-Chicago researchers, as well as the researchers pursuing similar technology, will continue to refine their methods.

An industrial-scale photosynthetic solar plant, producing inexpensive and renewable fuel which can be stored more efficiently than electricity, sounds like a worthy goal.
 
Sounds great, but since there would be no practical way to meter its use to the public, I doubt they are going to let the general public have access to a basically free unlimited fuel source, energy industry would go bankrupt.
 
mikekle said:
Sounds great, but since there would be no practical way to meter its use to the public, I doubt they are going to let the general public have access to a basically free unlimited fuel source, energy industry would go bankrupt.
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What do you mean, “no way to meter it”? Somebody has to build a plant with who knows what exotic materials and processes. Then they get hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Then it takes further processing to use these gases to make a hydrocarbon liquid fuel that people could actually use. People are not going to do that in their backyards. The economy of scale will favor big refineries. So there will be plenty of business opportunity to make money on this technology - if it works!
 
LeafByNiggle said:
Well, there is no chance of that happening. If CO2 is used to make fuel, and that fuel is burned, you get CO2 back. Everything comes out even. The only way you could deplete CO2 with this method is if you used it to make huge quantities of this synthetic fuel, but then never used it! But the whole point of making synthetic fuel is to use it.
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That’s a relief. I stopped exhaling for 2 years to stop global warming.
 
Deus_tecum said:
That’s a relief. I stopped exhaling for 2 years to stop global warming.
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It worked.
So well we haven’t seen any in over a decade.

With the new mathematical adjustments made we can see changes to our climate travel backwards in time.
 
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