Sun-powered device converts CO2 into fuel

Powered only by natural sunlight, an array of nanotubes is able to convert a mixture of carbon dioxide and water vapour into natural gas at unprecedented rates. Such devices offer a new way to take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it into fuel or other chemicals to cut the effect of fossil fuel emissions on global climate, says Craig Grimes, from Pennsylvania State University, whose team came up with the device. Although other research groups have developed methods for converting carbon dioxide into organic compounds like methane, often using titanium-dioxide nanoparticles as catalysts, they have needed ultraviolet light to power the reactions. The researchers' breakthrough has been to develop a method that works with the wider range of visible frequencies within sunlight.

source: www.newscientist.com...

I don't know if I pasted that the proper way. I go to naturalnews.com once in a while and I just saw this one today.

Now I don't really care about any energy other then electricity or something of that nature, but using solar power as means of converting co2 back into something useful is still pretty good.

I'm just sharing.

Interesting. Very similar idea to this one:

Breakthrough Technology Transforms CO2 Into Fuel!

Sunlight and CO2 into fuel? Been around for a long time




Just had to point that out. Sorry.

yeah i saw that one, but it looked different so I posted this. The other mentioned burning coal? Or was that another one? Either way, save the coal, use the sun instead!

I'd like to hear more details, but it sounds like a simple process.

I think what we need to look for is cutting down of resources just to produce other resources. Coal, or whatever complex chemicals are used in such processes.

The article only mentioned the use of what, co2, water vapour, sunlight and copper pipe? And aha!.. quartz! Bringing in the meta-physics, haha

reply to post by Phage


ha, no i know man. You know how absurd energy is.

I'm not at all surprised they can do this. I'm just happy that they're actually making a damn effort. Energy is so schemey. I think that's why I can't get excited about anything that runs off dirty or inefficient fuels. Cars don't excite me, but for some reason I could see myself driving one all day if it was clean energy.


Co2 makes the trees grow, which in turn gives us wood, and oxygen.. and we breathe oxygen and don't we breath out co2? You see the relation we have with nature?

We have only to look to the simplicity of things but we go the way of profit and selfish destruction, whereas we the common people can't do much about it except.. stop using fuel? And that might not exactly fit into our life style.

I guess its a matter of waiting for these guys to stop screwing us around.

Originally posted by CavemanDD
yeah i saw that one, but it looked different so I posted this. The other mentioned burning coal? Or was that another one? Either way, save the coal, use the sun instead!

Yeah, well the thing is, the overwhelming majority of the world's energy is still produced by coal-fired power plants, and I guess they produce a lot of excess CO2 as waste, so the idea is, to transform the excess CO2 into fuel instead of just releasing it into the atmosphere....

Yeah i don't really buy much into the official explanation for global warming but one thing I do care about regardless is how damn filthy the air is. I live in a major city and I wash the windows of tall buildings. You stand on the roof during the summer and you can see like a 200 foot thick smog line. Some days it looks like there is a desert wasteland on the edge of the city.

I feel like I can't breathe during the winter. I go to one of the terraces on the buildings and the air is so fresh. Such a big difference.


I think we need to get rid of all the chemicals and crap in the air, and out of the exaust of cars. I find breathing filthy air is one of the only things that really bothers me.

As for energy. I've seen some amazing devices out there that would revolutionize energy.. but just as important.. I think recycling is of utmost importance... to take the filth we produce and turn it back into something useful.

It's the recycling aspect that interests me the most.

And if its true that it can be done in large quantities as suggested, this would mean our energy problems are solved, pollutions can be converted, and that the cartel will buy up and bury this patent ASAP, probably.



Edit to add: The real solution for all inventions is to patent them in an open source model for the people ASAP, and then compete to develop devices in a free enterprise model.

[edit on 21-2-2009 by mystiq]

If this tech is used, how are they going to tax the world for co2 emission?

reply to post by mystiq


You got it. Open-sourcing is the key!

line

I agree with caveman. I live in a smallish town that has lots of open fields around the borders. Some days I jog to work, while im jogging through the quiet outer edge of town where there is no traffic I feel fine. As I get into a larger town near where I work there is a constant stream of traffic. While im running in the town I dont feel half as energetic as when Im running in the open!!

That main road is a 50 mph road and there is a steady flow of traffic, at the bottom of the road it is a built up area and a 30 mph limit. In the 30 mph limit area it is heavily congested.

All the fumes that are pumped out of cars are damaging our health. As a matter of fact Id say the car exhaust smoke is probably as likely to cause terminal illness as cigarettes!!

How many people get lung cancer a year? How many of those live on a main road?

People who live in cities have a lower life expectancy than people who live in the country.

reply to post by CavemanDD


Well if you're worried about that, then CO2 isn't really an issue. It's most of the other stuff that really fouls the air. Sulfurous emissions, particulate mater, nitrous oxides, unburnt fuel, carbon monoxide. CO2 is mainly an issue because of global warming, and because it dissolves in water to become carbonic acid, which may change the PH level of the ocean, which could lead to a massive die off of ocean life.

CO2 is odorless, tasteless, and generally isn't noticeable in the amounts you could plausibly find in the atmosphere. I mean, you breathe the stuff out. you're used to having it in your lungs.

THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!!! Carbon dioxide is needed in order for you to pay taxes on your carbon footprint which has been putting the Earth's greenhouse effect into a tailspin. The people that invented this machine will never be heard of again and the fundamentals behind such a scheme will be proven invaluable.

reply to post by mdiinican


And of course the political issue with that is only if Global Warming is real of course.
Plus, the guy who came up with the theory of global warming denounced it himself to be a load of crap. The same guy who taught Al Gore about it.

As for the CO2, there isn't very much need for it since CO2 is beneficial and needed for proper plant growth, in turn providing natural crops/foods, and benefitting the rest of the animal life on Earth.

The energy situation is entirely a manmade construct, there is no shortage of obtaining energy in a universe which, essentially, is matter made from energy. People need to think about the implications of this. Everything is energy.

If people want an abundance economy, which is technologically possible, then focus on the people who are shelving these inovations, or focus on making them for yourselves.

The more I read about this stuff the more I realise we should not wait for new energy inovations, we will have to build them ourselves, in our garages, from plans probably downloaded off the internet. Only then will these things reach a critical mass where the establishment won't be able to supress them.

Originally posted by Zepherian
The energy situation is entirely a manmade construct, there is no shortage of obtaining energy in a universe which, essentially, is matter made from energy. People need to think about the implications of this. Everything is energy.

If people want an abundance economy, which is technologically possible, then focus on the people who are shelving these inovations, or focus on making them for yourselves.

The more I read about this stuff the more I realise we should not wait for new energy inovations, we will have to build them ourselves, in our garages, from plans probably downloaded off the internet. Only then will these things reach a critical mass where the establishment won't be able to supress them.

This is exactly what I've been telling people. Don't wait for anyone, do it yourselves. Only problem is, where can we find some Real blueprints to build these machines. If you have more knowledge on this subject, please u2u me.

Edit: Why don't a group of us here at ATS get together and build one of these things and get this thing on the road!? We would need small funding of course, but it would benefit the entire world, no more suffering. Free energy. Lovely.

[edit on 21-2-2009 by Red Shield]

reply to post by Red Shield


I think they are already doing this at sites like www.overunity.com...

But yeah it would be great to see ATS put together it's own Science and Tech team and start doing this as well!

reply to post by Red Shield


Nanotube technology is not garage shop stuff. Got a silicon wafer shop in your back room?

Originally posted by mdiinican
reply to post by CavemanDD

 

Well if you're worried about that, then CO2 isn't really an issue. It's most of the other stuff that really fouls the air. Sulfurous emissions, particulate mater, nitrous oxides, unburnt fuel, carbon monoxide. CO2 is mainly an issue because of global warming, and because it dissolves in water to become carbonic acid, which may change the PH level of the ocean, which could lead to a massive die off of ocean life.

CO2 is odorless, tasteless, and generally isn't noticeable in the amounts you could plausibly find in the atmosphere. I mean, you breathe the stuff out. you're used to having it in your lungs.

Don't forget Mercury.
Huge amounts of Mercury are released by coal burning.
Its probably enough to dumb us all down a little!

Wow, this could help bring the price of food back to normal as well given that we won't have to use corn for gas, we can just use co2...