[Future] Creating fuel from air and water?

A British company, Air Fuel Synthesis (AFS), says it can produce hydrocarbon liquid fuel from water and air. The AFS process uses renewable energy to extract carbon dioxide from air and electrolyse water to acquire hydrogen. Once CO2 and hydrogen reacted through fuel reactor, producing methanol which can be converted into gasoline to fuel motorsports.   

The Air Fuel Synthesis process 

Picture from http://www.dw.de

Getting this far has taken almost two and a half years and cost $1.6 million (1.23 million euros), provided by two private investors.

Peter Harrison, chief executive officer of the Darlington-based start-up, says "the process does use energy to take CO2 from the air," but that energy savings could be gained by using leftover carbon from brewing and distillery processes.

Capturing carbon dioxide from the air could present another potential climate benefit by extracting greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, Harrison says. A plant producing 1,000 tons of "air fuel" would extract up to 1 million tons of CO2 every year.

Too good to be true?

They claim that most of the components of the AFS process exist either as demonstrations or are available off the shelf. In addition, they have  proposed the AFS timetable for delivering commercial carbon-neutral, sustainable fuels 2012 – 2015 Demonstration facility and initial commercial projects. This sound technology could be a potential solution to the fossil fuel 's carbon footprint and not sacrifice agricultural land use as biofuels, however, the production of fuel in this very beginning stage is only 1-10 tonnes a day, and there will a not too short journey to reach the commercial operation to replace most of the non-renewable energy.

References:

AFS:http://www.airfuelsynthesis.com/index.php

DW: http://www.dw.de/new-air-fuel-technique-to-boost-energy-mix/a-16326571

[Past]The end-Permian mass extinction coincided with inhospitably high temperature

The earth has been through several extinction events during the past 4.6 billion years...

The Permian-Triassic extinction event has been described as "mother of all extinction",which occurred 252.28 million years ago with great biodiversity loss. There were up to 96% of all marine species and 70% of terrestrial vertebrate species becoming extinct. It is the only known mass extinction of insects. Some 57% of all families and 83% of all genera became extinct. Several mechanisms of the massive extinctions  have been proposed, a gradual environmental change of earlier phase and more catastrophic events (siberian eruptions of CO2)during latter phase. [1]

One recent research [2] proposes that the end-Permian mass extinction and the near-absence of equatorial terrestrial fauna and flora during early Triassic are coincided with thermal maxima.

Figure 1: Early Triassic paleogeography showing rare equatorial occurrence of tetrapod,ichthyofauna and fish.[2]

Figure 2: They used both conodont apatite* oxygen isotope ratio and carbon isotope ratio as proxies reconstructing Late Permian to Middle Triassic equatorial sea water temperatures. The entire Early Triassic record indicates temperatures in excess of Modern Equatorial  Sea Surface Temperatures (annual mean SST).Furthermore, biodiversity of major marine groups and temperatures trends showing inverse relationship: low diversity in Griesbachian and Smithian correlates with peak temperature, whereas peak diversity corresponds to cool climate around the Dienerian-Smithian boundary.[2]

In summation, Sun et al. have examined the relation between global warming and extinction in the Early Triassic. The equatorial Pangea "tetrapod gap " and end-Permian to Middle Triassic global "coral gap"  indicates that lethally temperature conditions could progressively force fauna and floral to vacate the tropics and move to higher latitudes. Together with the rapid temperature rise, other synergetic factors  such as the spread of marine anoxia, may also have profound influence on marine extinction.  

References:
[1]Wikipedia: permian-triassic extinction event

[2] Lethally Hot Temperatures During the Early Triassic Greenhouse, Yadong Sun et al., Science, vol 338, 19 October, 2012.

* conodonts are extinct chordates resembling eels, being known from enigmatic tooth-like microfossils a proxy for thermal alteration in the host rock. wikipedia

[Documentary] Chasing ice

Since 2007, James Balog, a National Geographic photographer, has been working in some of the most extreme conditions on locations in Iceland, Greenland, Alaska, Montana...etc., establishing cameras  using the time lapse filming technique to monitor the changes of ice sheets.

To reveal the influences of climate change, James founded the Extreme Ice Survey (EIS), the most ground-based photographic study of glaciers. Director Jeff Orlowski also has participated in this project, filming the glaciers now appear in the documentary feature film Chasing ice.

After watching the trailer, I find it breathtakingly beautiful, yet sorrowful. Sometimes one photo is more than a thousand words, moreover, hope this film can help people understand more about the changing planetary scenarios. 

Find more about James Balog and Time-lapse ice loss:
TED X James Balog: Time-lapse proof of extreme ice loss