Farming In The Dark Could Save The World
Scientists may have just conceived an incredible planet-saving technology.
To stop the self-made apocalypse that is climate change, we humans need to change our ways by banishing fossil fuels, embracing renewables, and becoming far more harmonious with nature. As we start adopting these planet-saving measures, something becomes apparent: we not only need to become carbon-neutral, we also need to be far more efficient. Otherwise, our revolutionary technology will just cause a different ecological disaster. But, plants, including the crops that feed humanity, only convert 1% of the light energy that hits their leaves into sugars and usable energy, making the food we rely on incredibly inefficient. Amazingly, scientists have recently figured out a way to solve this problem by turbocharging plants’ efficiency. It could also unlock an astonishing array of world-saving technologies, from carbon-neutral farming to scaleable carbon-neutral biofuels. It may even help feed the first human base on Mars. Welcome to the brilliant world of artificial photosynthesis!
So yes, plants only convert around 1% of light into usable energy, which has served them well for the billions of years they have existed on Earth. But our solar panels can already trounce this figure. A cheap panel can achieve 15%-20% efficiency, and…
