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Artificial Photosynthesis Is Solar Energy’s Forgotten Cousin

By: Zimbler0 in RRRI | Recommend this post (0)
Mon, 18 Feb 19 7:00 PM | 613 view(s)
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Artificial Photosynthesis Is Solar Energy’s Forgotten Cousin—and It’s Making a Comeback

http://singularityhub.com/2018/02/25/artificial-photosynthesis-is-solar-energys-forgotten-cousin-and-its-making-a-comeback/#sm.000149ts64m03d1bqz21ln3xg4e8a

In an article in Science published in 1912, Professor Giacomo Ciamician noted that “Coal… offers solar energy to humanity in its most concentrated form… but coal is not inexhaustible. Is fossil solar energy the only one that may be used in modern life and civilization?” Later in the article, entitled grandly “The photochemistry of the future,” he remarks:

“Glass buildings will rise everywhere; inside of these will take place the photochemical processes that hitherto have been the guarded secret of the plants, but that will have been mastered by human industry which will know how to make them bear even more abundant fruit than nature, for nature is not in a hurry and mankind is… life and civilization will continue as long as the sun shines!”

More than a century after Ciamician first envisaged artificial photosynthesis as a means of weaning ourselves off fossil fuels, the quest to make it a reality continues, and with a renewed urgency.

While solar panels are straining at the theoretical limits of their efficiency, seeking to break free, there’s still a place for artificial photosynthesis, which was for a long time a forgotten cousin. It seems likely that people will continue to want liquid and solid fuels that can be burned, whereas solar panels can only provide us with electricity.

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(Article does continue. Zim.)




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