4 ms·

I don't understand. Photosynthesis has been hailed as one of the most efficient processes by nature. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-it-comes-to

• Sharlin 10y ago
  That particular stage in the hugely complex reaction pathway is hailed as efficient. The whole thing, considerably less so.
• ignostic 10y ago
  I believe the trick is that they harvest "95 percent of it from the light they absorb", emphasis added. It's sort of like saying an efficient solar system only loses 5% of the energy absorbed by the solar panels. Photosynthesis may be quite efficient internally, but it's not very good at capturing all of the available power. It really is 3-6%, where even cheap solar panels can achieve 15-20% or higher these days.
• flogic 10y ago
  Photosynthesis is a complex process. That article only covers one step of many.