New technology: 'Solar Island' is both absorbing CO2 and creating methanol as fuel

Floating solar farms will solve three issues on one hand: energy, greenhouse gases and scenes that depend on fossil fuels.

In the journal of the US National Academy of Sciences, a new scientific report from researchers in Norway and Sweden appears, which can be considered as a new ray of hope for humanity: when combined If we can get millions of solar panels on to create solar farms on the surface of the water, we can turn the carbon dioxide in seawater into methanol - the ultimate fuel for meditation. Move large load.

Floating solar farms will solve three issues on one hand: energy, greenhouse gases and scenes that depend on fossil fuels.

This floating solar farm will solve its dependence on fossil fuels.

The scientific report says that this technology will be used to build large-scale ethanol plants on the water, so it should be built in calm seas with less storms. They offer 'prime locations' such as off South America, northern Australia, the Arabian Gulf and Southeast Asian waters.

' In order to reduce the consequences of global warming, we need a method to cut CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels. However, in the near future, carbon-containing liquid fuels will remain an important mode of energy production. So we launched a combination of existing technologies, using solar energy to recycle CO2 into liquid fuel , '' the paper reads.

The researchers suggest that floating solar farms are similar to fish rafts. They calculated the relative number of 70 such farms to cover about 1,3km ² of the sea surface. The solar panels generate electricity, electrolyzing water to split hydrogen at the same time. Those hydrogen will interact with carbon dioxide in seawater, creating methanol.

The solar panels generate electricity, electrolyzing water to split hydrogen at the same time.

The team believes that on a large enough scale, this method will make renewable energy production competitive with fossil fuel refining. At the present time, they are embarking on the creation of the first prototypes, to prove that the ideas behind the newly published scientific report are feasible. It is estimated that we need 3.2 million such 'floating islands' to offset the CO ² emissions from fossil fuels.

A floating solar farm can generate 15,000 tons of methanol per year, which is enough to turn into a Boeing 737 that can travel 300 round trips over a distance of 3400km. ' We want to make use of fuel for airplanes, long-haul trucks, heavy ships and non-electric rail systems ,' said Bruce Patterson, a physicist at the University of Zurich and one of the authors. of the study, said.

However, he also immediately said that this is not a miraculous solution that can solve everything. ' This is just one of the many ways we should combat climate change, we need to find more ways to insulate our homes, create more efficient energy consumption engines and take electric cars. ' Mr. Patterson told NBC News.