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New Solar Cells Can Convert CO2 Into Hydrocarbon Fuel (nextbigfuture.com)
"Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have engineered a potentially game-changing solar cell that cheaply and efficiently converts atmospheric carbon dioxide directly into usable hydrocarbon fuel, using only sunlight for energy," reports Next Big Future. Slashdot reader William Robinson writes:
This artificial leaf delivers syngas, or synthesis gas, a mixture of hydrogen gas and carbon monoxide. Syngas can be burned directly, or converted into diesel or other hydrocarbon fuels. The discovery opens up possibilities of clean reusable energy.
"A solar farm of such 'artificial leaves' could remove significant amounts of carbon from the atmosphere and produce energy-dense fuel efficiently..." according to the article, which adds that the process could prove useful in the high-carbon atmosphere of Mars. "Unlike conventional solar cells, which convert sunlight into electricity that must be stored in heavy batteries, the new device essentially does the work of plants, converting atmospheric carbon dioxide into fuel, solving two crucial problems at once."
"A solar farm of such 'artificial leaves' could remove significant amounts of carbon from the atmosphere and produce energy-dense fuel efficiently..." according to the article, which adds that the process could prove useful in the high-carbon atmosphere of Mars. "Unlike conventional solar cells, which convert sunlight into electricity that must be stored in heavy batteries, the new device essentially does the work of plants, converting atmospheric carbon dioxide into fuel, solving two crucial problems at once."
Because so far most of these carbon removing technologies fall way short of just planting a grove of trees. This seems like one of those problems where maybe nature is handing us a simpler solution. But for the sake of science (and keeping that funding flowing) we go out of our way to make a less efficient, more expensive machine to do the job that a tree will do for free.
Powering transportation solely on electricity gives the state the ability to decide when, where, and how much you can use because it's a public utility but under the legal control of the state.
Uh, what? Powering transportation solely with electricity is the only way an individual can become energy independent. I can install enough photovoltaic panels to power a Tesla for literally all of my driving needs (I fly when I travel long distances). Those panels are not only not a public utility, but quite specifically my private property. If I lived in the country, I could put up a windmill, either instead of or in addition to photovoltaic panels. Again, private property. Install enough of them, and a battery bank in the basement, and I can disconnect my house from that public utility too.
I certainly can't drill an oil well in my backyard and run an oil refinery in my basement. I can't strip mine my backyard for coal and run a steam-powered car. I can't cut enough trees to burn wood and run a steam-powered car either. I can't even plant enough switchgrass, harvest it, and make enough ethanol. Even if I could strip mine my backyard for coal, it would have to be half a mile thick to handle my transportation needs for the rest of my life, and coal just doesn't come that way.
Neither fossil fuels nor biofuels can fuel my transportation needs. Either I'm not allowed to utilize them (and wouldn't want to, because of the stench), or they literally aren't energy-dense enough, respectively. Biofuels depend on plants, which are lucky to convert even 3% of the sunlight falling on them, and they convert into biomolecules that I have to do something dramatic to in order to utilize their energy (usually at further loss). Commercial off the shelf photovoltaic panels convert sunlight at 22% efficiency, directly into electricity I can use, or can convert into something I can use with well-understood, cheap circuitry.
Powering transportation, and indeed everything else, solely on electricity is the one and only path to personal energy independence that can be pursued by more than a handful of farmers with massive amounts of acreage. And it's physically possible today. Right now. For everybody in the world who lives in low density housing. It's not financially possible for most just yet, but at least physics isn't preventing it.