Converting CO2 to fuel: global warming solved?

[mollytherealdeal]

Using air, water, and sunlight to create an artificial oil may be useful decades in the future, but it is still a laboratory project. Also, thorium reactors are still also a laboratory project.

[bogusnachos]

The requirements are Air, water AND energy. The key is energy. Oil and the fuels we make are just various arrangements of hydrogen and carbon. We would need thousands of square miles of these mirrors to put a dent in our gasoline usage. We need nuclear power for this processes, preferable\y thorium molten salt reactors.

[Georgeqaws]

this will never happen as we will always have to pay for our fuel because fuel will always be a market

[1BustedMyth]

@Georgeqaws, Yes they said that about the aeroplane, going to the Moon and sailing around the world.

You can run a Diesel on almost any oil, including Sunflower, Canola, lard, both new or used.

You can buy an electric car, make your own power for it.

There are infact many ways to have transport and be outside the market.

[Ubiitsa91]

He said Rotherham :D YAY ROTHERHAM!

[12ock]

i d stay theyre batteries

[1BustedMyth]

BEST video EVER

Steal being melted by the Sun!

[Jordan454545]

@1BustedMyth That's "steel". It's something different entirely.

[1BustedMyth]

@Jordan454545, I actually had your car in mind!

[Jordan454545]

@1BustedMyth You want to steal my car?

[1BustedMyth]

@Jordan454545, No!, look outside, I already did! ;)

[FlAmErSz]

lol imagine ure name is rich. when u introduce people u say , Hi im rich bitch

[soggieshorts1]

let me see here @PhilipTheaker2009 so i am an idiot for not beleaving they have created any thing here or is it cause i made a statement about trees @purklefluff do you happen to know the use of co2 rate of a tree i do know that my grand father has pictures of the mountain ranges from the 1920s and they look rather baron then but now there are massave forests in those same places and how about we just think about whos profiting from global warming BY SELLING CRAP

[LouistheHedgehog]

Two BP executives voted this.

[Karmakameleeon]

put a sterling engine on that thing...

[ivapino]

This process uses WATER to create fuel to power your car. In 2030 1/3 of the world population won't have access to water whatsoever. Are these people suggesting that we should exhaust the world water resources so the rich societies of the future can still power their cars????? That's exactly the same thinking pattern that got us into this mess. Water is a finite resource.

[Torment1971]

@ivapino Water is not a finite resource. Access to fresh water is what is alluded to for 2030. There is the same amount of water on the earth today as there was since prehistoric times. Extracting water from the sea and converting it to drinking water takes a lot of energy, possibly this solves that too?

[PhilipTheaker2009]

@Torment1971 You've just saved me 2 minutes! (so i didnt have to explain this ) LOL

[TimpBizkit]

It's like reverse combustion. Of course, you need to put the energy back into the system.

[denelson83]

@TimpBizkit You can use energy from the Sun to do that.

[soggieshorts1]

lets use up the tree food KILL the trees we want deserts every where hello trees need co2 we need oxegen lets be smart people global warming is a sales pitch

[alexvpaq]

that was dumb. Trees had enough CO² even before we arrived on earth...

[Firedraikke]

I'll bite. CO2 levels in 1959 - 316.38 (PPM), CO2 levels in 2010 - 389.91 (PPM).

Factor in all the acres of trees that have been cut down since then and the increase in human caused CO2 in the atmosphere. I think there's PLENTY of CO2 for both this and trees.

Source: NOAA

[purklefluff]

@soggieshorts1 absolute bollocks.

trees had enough CO2 before we were around. we're just producing even more on top of what they need. cutting down on the amount of CO2 produced won't actually make the amount in the atmosphere any less, it'll just lessen the amount we're pumping into the sky.

think before you type.

[PhilipTheaker2009]

@soggieshorts1 Hahahahahahahaha your a goddamn idiot.

[MrArcadeHH]

Great effort! The Americans will love it because it makes them independent. Please correct me if i am wrong: The remaining problem is to get down the high CO2 concentration out of the atmosphere, fpr restoring or stabilizing the climate. Okay, the increase will be stopped, but istn the actual concentration way too high for our climate system?

by the way: "can you dedog my stick?" haha!

[froggycss]

lol i feel so out of place with all these science buffs going at it hahahahaha, i understand how this works though...truly amazing how mankind has fucked this planet up...but there's always a way to fix it.....eventually haha

[Titansrock]

thats what u call an evolution to the ray heat gun.

[narutofan9285]

Use greenhouse gasses produced from the back of the cars, to produce fuel that will still end up making greenhouse gasses. It's not really solving the global warming problem, but at least it reduces the amount of energy we use to refine gasoline. Unless they can get the price (and the size) down, I don't see this contraption being in every persons front yard.

[newtonmeters]

This fuel doesn't produce greehouse gasses, it'll produce nothing new at all.

It's like taking a piece of cake, breaking it into it's parts, then putting it back on the plate as the same piece of cake.

With petrol we're taking a piece of cake, eating it and putting back a turd.

But yeh it's impractical in this form.

[ExplosiveScience]

Newtonmeters is correct. Nothing new is formed, but it is very impractical. Why run solar energy through extra systems, more will just be lost than using it directly as electricity.

[Kroenen81]

@ExplosiveScience

Yes, but the infrastructure for vehicles running on diesel/petrol is already in place (with a rediculous price tag I might add). Additionally, filling a tank in mere seconds is much more appealing than having to wait for hours to recharge batteries. I don't want an electric car unless it has liquid batteries (hydrogen peroxide or other).

I like it.

[ExplosiveScience]

Great points, I was only considering the efficiency of the processes, not the practicality. I think electric is still more practical than this however. Some of the hydrogen cars are getting better, and I think so far they are probably the best choice if the infrastructure existed. I think the infrastructure switch can be made. I just think there are more efficient and practical ways to power cars than this, still a cool video and a creative idea though. I loved your reply to my comment.

[Lindholmer5k]

i guess its more like a recyceling of the greenhouse gasses? bit like a steam engien..

[Molo9000]

@narutofan9285

If you take CO2 out of the atmosphere, transform it into petrol using solar energy and then burn it again, the emissions are zero. (apart from what emissions u create building and maintaining the machine)

[DarkwingScooter]

The question is repair costs, how long do these things run before you have to replace them?

[weezilla]

Probably not much in repair costs. Contrary to using solar cells, they are using mirrors--which have a very low upkeep cost.

As for the video: 3-5 gallons of liquid fuel from CO2 gas is pretty phenomenal. CO2 is a very light gas. The equivalent mass of this within 3 gallons of liquid is a huge volume/mass.

Not to say this is the most efficient way, but maybe they'll figure out something.

[offsprng46]

This is stupid. First of all, you need an energy source much more powerful than solar to make this practical in even the few application in which it has potential. So, say you're using nuclear power instead. Even then, the cost of the fuel produced would be so enormous that it would only have a few useful applications, mostly (if not exclusively) military - for instance, producing jet fuel on an aircraft carrier.

[solaris10user]

I agree, this is a feel good bit of crappy science, I don't know with whats all the neg feedback to your comment is about. Prob by hippies !

[denicpetar]

oo.You neead just a rafinery of 1000 000 $ to make you 3-5 galons of fuel a da. Briliant

[tzeimet]

3-5 gallons is enoguh for a average motorist

[LordNelson87]

3-5 gallons a day isn't much considering the hundreds of thousands of barrels of gasoline refined every day

[monx84]

And then you run out of oil to refine. OOPS

[fotcfan1]

you mean about 80 000 000 barrels of oil a day.

[skreechthe20J]

There is no such thing as global warming. Chuck Norris was cold so he turned the Sun up.

[zaqwert777]

Worst nightmare of the ants. Beware ants we are devising better ways of getting you.

[mercedesE320fan]

great no more energy crisis these scientists should be very well awarded for this thank you USA USA USA !!! at least they are trying to m8k mur fuel instead of trying to save it i hope this gets in2 full scale world production

[mercedesE320fan]

Are you stupid ?

[UniteResistRevolt]

yes I am mentally retarded

[roflex2]

What tv show is this from?

[Varrig010]

James May's Big Ideas

[0ddba11s]

I was going to post this video today glad to see others have done it anyway good program.

Notice the lack of people trying to kill these guys!

[LetonBrain]

LOL!!!!

I could swear one of the cacti was wearing a pocket protector with the word "Exxon" on it......

Impressive use of solar energy. Novel approach to reverse the chemical organic combustion reaction.

Thought provoking.

[katdiver08]

Hey Rich- That's pretty cool. I will be showing this to my classes in December. Any chance you coming out to talk with them in the near future?

[soccerjb48]

That is an AWESOME video!! it's amazing and that's my dad!

[oekedulleke]

We should always be sceptical with such fantastic claims, and without a proper understanding of what they are trying to do its hard to judge this. However, considering the installations showed, someone with a lot of money seems to think this could work.

And the steel melting was pretty impressive.

[ChemicalMikeUK]

thie kind of thechnology would be idealy matched with this; watch?v=GvidaOGnKJc

[phicubed]

Wow. Truly amazing things our chemistry brings to us.