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It's also worth noting that biological photosynthesis is very inefficient. A human consumes on average about 150 watts. The earth gets about 1400 watts of sunli
by russdill 4y ago
It's also worth noting that biological photosynthesis is very inefficient. A human consumes on average about 150 watts. The earth gets about 1400 watts of sunlight per square meter. It's not completely impossible to one day have bio-engineered solar powered animals.
- winReInstall 4y agohttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590346220300134 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S259034622...
- Mistletoe 4y agoSome napkin math (may be wrong). A man is about two square meters of skin. Assuming they lay down to photosynthesize most efficiently from perpendicular sun rays that would be one square meter, so 1400 watts. You would need an ~11% efficient conversion to meet the needs of a human. Plants currently top out at about 6.4% for highly efficient C4 plants like sugarcane. 11% is the maximum efficiency possible. >The photosynthetic efficiency is dependent on the wavelength of the light absorbed. Photosynthetically active radiation (400–700 nm) constitutes only 45% of the actual daylight. Therefore the maximum theoretical efficiency of the photosynthesis process is approximately 11%. Not only would you have to somehow replicate the extreme efficiency of sugarcane on animal skin (an organ with no support structures for photosynthesis), you’d have to double the efficiency.