3 ms·

Wondering if they harvest different ranges of wavelength. Might deploying both simultaneously get you above 4% conversion? Or would one system steal photons fro

Wondering if they harvest different ranges of wavelength. Might deploying both simultaneously get you above 4% conversion? Or would one system steal photons from the other? It seems like they are saying they shut down one or other outside its favored temperature range, but there is overlap... Probably the chlorophyll system isn't the 4%-efficient version used in maize, but the 2% one almost everybody else uses. If the rhodopsin system is easy to retrofit, maybe we can install it into important crops to harvest more of incident light. Probably more useful would be to install means to drive fixing CO2/H2O -> glucose using an electric current driven from external PV cells. Maybe in olive or nut trees? Or a fungus network?

wcoenen 4y ago
> Probably more useful would be to install means to drive fixing CO2/H2O -> glucose using an electric current driven from external PV cells. Solar Foods[1][2] does something like that by using the electricity to produce hydrogen. The hydrogen, CO2 and water (plus some nutrients) is then fed to bacteria that produce protein. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Foods https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Foods [2] https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg25634192-700-a-factory-will-soon-start-making-green-food-from-air-and-electricity/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg25634192-700-a-factor...
- moloch-hai 4y ago
  Fascinating... TIL. There are catalyst coatings that split water directly from incident light, at (IIRC) 7-9% efficiency, avoiding need for the solar panels. H2 is very insoluble in water; maybe dissolving something else helps retain it? Do the microbes fix their own nitrogen? [...] They say they use a Xanthobacter strain; X. agilis eats hydrogen and fixes nitrogen... Looks like the variety they use produces carotenes and umami too.
jjcm 4y ago
Do you have more info on that 4% efficient system used in maize? First I’ve heard of it and it sounds interesting.
- maxerickson 4y ago
  It's the C4 pathway: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C4_carbon_fixation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C4_carbon_fixation
  - moloch-hai 4y ago
    It is common in grass families, notably excepting rice, but is also used in amaranth and in the various cabbage relatives. They are hoping to engineer a rice strain to use it. Hopefully it would also produce carotenes...

wcoenen 4y ago

> Probably more useful would be to install means to drive fixing CO2/H2O -> glucose using an electric current driven from external PV cells. Solar Foods[1][2] does something like that by using the electricity to produce hydrogen. The hydrogen, CO2 and water (plus some nutrients) is then fed to bacteria that produce protein. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Foods https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Foods [2] https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg25634192-700-a-factory-will-soon-start-making-green-food-from-air-and-electricity/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg25634192-700-a-factor...

moloch-hai 4y ago
Fascinating... TIL. There are catalyst coatings that split water directly from incident light, at (IIRC) 7-9% efficiency, avoiding need for the solar panels. H2 is very insoluble in water; maybe dissolving something else helps retain it? Do the microbes fix their own nitrogen? [...] They say they use a Xanthobacter strain; X. agilis eats hydrogen and fixes nitrogen... Looks like the variety they use produces carotenes and umami too.

jjcm 4y ago

Do you have more info on that 4% efficient system used in maize? First I’ve heard of it and it sounds interesting.

maxerickson 4y ago
It's the C4 pathway: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C4_carbon_fixation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C4_carbon_fixation
- moloch-hai 4y ago
  It is common in grass families, notably excepting rice, but is also used in amaranth and in the various cabbage relatives. They are hoping to engineer a rice strain to use it. Hopefully it would also produce carotenes...