<story><title>Chemists create methane fuel from sun, carbon dioxide and water (2022)</title><url>https://news.uchicago.edu/story/chemists-create-artificial-photosynthesis-system-10-times-more-efficient-existing-systems</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>petesergeant</author><text>&amp;gt; besides abysmal efficiency&lt;p&gt;How much does abysmal efficiency matter when there are places in the world with virtually unlimited sunlight? Serious question.</text></item><item><author>enslavedrobot</author><text> This stuff is not competitive with electrochemical methods.&lt;p&gt;A big problem with these methods, besides abysmal efficiency is that the light that drives the photochemical processes has some probability of generating side reactions that destroy the artificial enzyme. Nature overcomes this with unbelievably complex protein repair structures that literally swap out defective proteins for new ones. We have zero chance of replicating this type of thing anytime soon.&lt;p&gt;Bio oil from algae is much closer to practical utility than this tech. And electrochemical CO2 reduction will be an even more scalable and practical solution in the near term in my opinion.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>djmips</author><text>The figure that stands out for me is according to this one fossil fuel animation on YouTube they calculate we are using 100 times the amount of carbon that exists in all living creatures on the face of the earth every year.&lt;p&gt;That&amp;#x27;s food for thought... Even if we used all the forests and all the sea life we still wouldn&amp;#x27;t have enough energy. So we really need to be eat more efficient than natural systems.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;SD9yVca6hHI&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;SD9yVca6hHI&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Chemists create methane fuel from sun, carbon dioxide and water (2022)</title><url>https://news.uchicago.edu/story/chemists-create-artificial-photosynthesis-system-10-times-more-efficient-existing-systems</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>petesergeant</author><text>&amp;gt; besides abysmal efficiency&lt;p&gt;How much does abysmal efficiency matter when there are places in the world with virtually unlimited sunlight? Serious question.</text></item><item><author>enslavedrobot</author><text> This stuff is not competitive with electrochemical methods.&lt;p&gt;A big problem with these methods, besides abysmal efficiency is that the light that drives the photochemical processes has some probability of generating side reactions that destroy the artificial enzyme. Nature overcomes this with unbelievably complex protein repair structures that literally swap out defective proteins for new ones. We have zero chance of replicating this type of thing anytime soon.&lt;p&gt;Bio oil from algae is much closer to practical utility than this tech. And electrochemical CO2 reduction will be an even more scalable and practical solution in the near term in my opinion.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>sudhirj</author><text>Good point. I&amp;#x27;ve had discussions with friends about things like the Einstein-Slizard refrigeration and efficiency keeps coming up, and it&amp;#x27;s always a struggle to point out that we&amp;#x27;re trying to do things in an environment where there&amp;#x27;s tons of tropical and equatorial sunlight, and little or no access to electricity. Efficiency is not the primary factor when the energy source is free and unlimited.</text></comment>