Why Solar Fuels?
The sun, itself a massive fusion reactor, irradiates the earth with energy at a rate that is roughly 10,000 times larger than the rate at which civilization currently uses energy derived from fossil fuels. The challenge is that sunlight isn’t reliable – it is only available during the day, and its intensity varies substantially by season, and even day to day. Dry equatorial regions have plentiful sunlight year-round, while many heavily populated regions far from the equator do not.
The Liquid Sunlight Alliance is developing the basic science principles that enable new materials and chemical systems to collect sunlight and use the energy to combine carbon dioxide and water to form liquid fuels. Such renewable fuels can displace fossil fuels for zero-emission long-distance transport via trucks, ships and airplanes – infrastructure that is central to modern civilization and the global economy and that cannot be powered by batteries whose energy density is too low.
