Fuel from the air - a study of a new concept
THE PROBLEMGlobal warming and depletion of fossil reserves are some of the most well known sustainability problems of our time. Beside direct environmental effects there are several secondary social effects which have to do with jobs and stability. Effects on jobs are both about availability and quality. Stability effects concern economy and politics. As a consequence changes of energy systems in various countries have begun, and several new techniques are being tested. It is however important that these techniques are developed and evaluated in such a way as to cover all their sustainability aspects. Today, there is a tendency to make one-aspect-solutions, for example: the measure of success is about decreasing carbon dioxide emissions.HOW CAN THE PROJECT CONTRIBUTE TO A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM?Our aim is to develop a sustainable technique to produce a hydrocarbon based fuel directly from air. In the air, there are all the necessary components for this: energy from sun and wind, carbon from carbon dioxide and hydrogen from water. Plants use these components to create their “fuels”. However, plants do much more than just creating fuels and their efficiency per land surface unit is relatively low. A photovoltaic cell is about 100 times as efficient per land area unit. This means that in a relatively small area, for example the roof of a carport or a house, the energy can be collected for the fuel to a plug-in-hybrid-car. The project described here has an idea of how to in a simple way collect the carbon dioxide needed for the fuel. The carbon dioxide is then made to react with hydrogen from water, which has been electrolysed with electricity from the photovoltaic cell to give a hydrocarbon based fuel to the car. The electricity may of course be taken from the grid and produced with a green technology somewhere else. In the long run the project can contribute to the growth of a decentralised fuel production, create local jobs and carbon neutral transports. The pressure on productive land will decrease compared to that from the production of bio-fuels.WHO WILL BENEFIT FROM THE RESULTS?Being an idea-project, the results are early in the development of new technology. In the short run, it is mostly actors in the R&D area that are the prime target audience, but also long term sustainability planners in government and the private sector may benefit from the results.
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