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>But if hydrogen from the leaf can combine with CO2 to make alcohol fuel, the fuel can be used the way diesel is now. Hmmmm....so bacteria breathes in CO2 to m

by abhi3 10y ago

>But if hydrogen from the leaf can combine with CO2 to make alcohol fuel, the fuel can be used the way diesel is now. Hmmmm....so bacteria breathes in CO2 to make fuel....so we can burn the fuel and release the CO2 back in the atmosphere? Not to take away anything from this impressive scientific achievement but this application is just depressing.

smt88 10y ago
Better than digging carbon up and releasing it. This is carbon recycling, basically. Recycling is better than producing/discarding/producing, right?
ZenoArrow 10y ago
The application you've described isn't depressing. Carbon dioxide is a normal element in our atmosphere. Burning biofuels isn't a problem because the world's ecosystem is used to processing the levels of carbon dioxide that exist in current circulation. The problems that come from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere happen when you alter the levels of carbon dioxide faster than the ecosystem can react. This happens when burning fossil fuels on a large scale because it leads to adding more carbon dioxide into standard circulation. As there isn't a proportional increase in plant life ready to absorb this increase the carbon dioxide can have negative impacts on our environment, such as ocean acidification.
riprowan 10y ago
The biosystem can handle almost any amount of fuel-burning and release of CO2 from fuels that came from the biosystem. In that regard, burning is like recycling. The problem is that we pump CO2 from outside the biosphere (from deep underground) into the biosphere. This technology could eliminate the need to move CO2 from underground into the biosphere, without having to completely revamp our existing infrastructure. If this is possible, it would be a gigantic win for the environment.
mac01021 10y ago
Not depressing at all. If we can continue to generate energy to meet our current level of demand without introducing more CO2 into the atmosphere than was there before then our climate crisis is solved. Human energy use will have a zero net effect on CO2 levels, meanwhile, the oceans and rocks and the world's flora will gradually bring the concentration back down to a more desirable level.

by abhi3 10y ago

smt88 10y ago

Better than digging carbon up and releasing it. This is carbon recycling, basically. Recycling is better than producing/discarding/producing, right?

ZenoArrow 10y ago

The application you've described isn't depressing. Carbon dioxide is a normal element in our atmosphere. Burning biofuels isn't a problem because the world's ecosystem is used to processing the levels of carbon dioxide that exist in current circulation. The problems that come from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere happen when you alter the levels of carbon dioxide faster than the ecosystem can react. This happens when burning fossil fuels on a large scale because it leads to adding more carbon dioxide into standard circulation. As there isn't a proportional increase in plant life ready to absorb this increase the carbon dioxide can have negative impacts on our environment, such as ocean acidification.

riprowan 10y ago

The biosystem can handle almost any amount of fuel-burning and release of CO2 from fuels that came from the biosystem. In that regard, burning is like recycling. The problem is that we pump CO2 from outside the biosphere (from deep underground) into the biosphere. This technology could eliminate the need to move CO2 from underground into the biosphere, without having to completely revamp our existing infrastructure. If this is possible, it would be a gigantic win for the environment.

mac01021 10y ago

Not depressing at all. If we can continue to generate energy to meet our current level of demand without introducing more CO2 into the atmosphere than was there before then our climate crisis is solved. Human energy use will have a zero net effect on CO2 levels, meanwhile, the oceans and rocks and the world's flora will gradually bring the concentration back down to a more desirable level.