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Engineered and Artificial Photosynthesis: Human Ingenuity Enters the Game

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

Devens Gust
Affiliation:
Arizona State University, USA
David Kramer
Affiliation:
Washington State University, USA
Ana Moore
Affiliation:
Arizona State University, USA
Thomas A. Moore
Affiliation:
Arizona State University, USA
Wim Vermaas
Affiliation:
Arizona State University, USA

Extract

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All oxygen-dependent life depends on photosynthesis. In addition to breathing the oxygen produced by photosynthesis, humans have been harnessing energy from photosynthesis for millennia. Since the beginning of human societal structures, human needs have driven the evolution of agricultural production, and they continue to do so. Recently, it has been suggested that agriculture can contribute substantially to human technological (nonnutritional) energy needs. This possibility raises concern because the projections of human energy needs argue convincingly that without large increases in energy conversion effciency (ECE), land-grown biofuel production and food production will compete for land, a largely untenable compromise given the current nutritional status of the world's underdeveloped societies.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2008

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