"Right now there is lots of talk about burying carbon dioxide, which is ridiculous," "Do we take that CO2 and bury it, or do we use sunlight to turn it back into fuel?"
Powered by sunlight, titanium oxide nanotubes can turn carbon dioxide into methane, which can be harnessed as an energy source, say scientists at Pennsylvania State University.
The nanotubes could dramatically reduce CO2 emissions into the atmosphere and reduce our need for fossil fuels.
.. "Instead we can collect the waste out of the smoke stack, put it though a converter, and presto, use sunlight to change [CO2] back into fuel."
This is solar power by another name, say Grimes and other scientists. Instead of storing electrons in batteries, Grimes' idea would store energy chemically.
"If you want to use hydrogen as a energy source in the future, you have to convert all the existing infrastructure," said Choi. " But we've been using methane for years, and can utilize all the infrastructure we already have."
"It's a clean and sustainable cycle as long as you have sun and water," said Choi.
Read full review from Craig Grimes of Penn State, who, along with Oomman Varghese, Maggie Paulose and Thomas LaTempa, co-authored a paper on the nanotubes at Discovery.com
