Global warming

[Bob Butler 54]

(10-20-2016, 04:21 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: When they applied an electric current of just 1.2 volts, the catalyst converted a solution of CO2 dissolved in water into ethanol, with a yield of 63 percent.

This result was surprising for a couple of reasons: firstly, because it’s effectively reversing the combustion process using a very modest amount of electricity, and secondly, it was able to do this while achieving a relatively high yield of ethanol - they were expecting to end up with the significantly less desirable chemical, methanol.

This is interesting, but I'd want to look at the net balances. For one thing, you are turning CO2 into a carbon fuel, then burning the carbon fuel. The carbon ends up in the atmosphere anyway.

Second, you are using electrical energy to do it. I hope this isn't coming from a coal fired plant. If you want a net gain, you'd want to use something like wind, solar or tide.

Third, no reaction is totally efficient. When one pours energy into any process, some of that energy is wasted.

But it still seems interesting as a way to store energy in a portable form we are already geared up to use. While the pie might not truly be up in the sky, there could well be a place for it.