Glasgow solar study aims to leap from solar power to solar fuel

Imagine a world where renewable energy could be converted into fuel that’s simple to store and where greenhouse gases could be removed from the atmosphere and put back into the ground. The stuff of science fiction?  At the moment yes but one day it could be a reality thanks to a groundbreaking multi-million pound, multidisciplinary Glasgow University project funded by the EPSRC.

Whether it’s generated by sun, wind or some other means, electricity is difficult to store and essentially has to be used straight away.  Researchers at the university’s Solar Fuels Group, working in Professor Lee Cronin’s chemistry lab, have been carrying out experiments that enable the energy from electricity to be stored.

Now they are looking for ways to turn that energy into something that might resemble diesel by combining it with carbon. The fuel could then be used in similar ways to how we use fossil fuels but without some of the inherent disadvantages like releasing large amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere without a means of getting it back.

Instead the carbon from the new fuel could be used again to store more solar energy in what’s called a closed carbon cycle.

The far-reaching implications of that are voiced by Professor Cronin who not only sees the possibility of putting all the extra carbon dioxide back into the ground but also being able to safely store oil back into the oil wells thus preventing the need to burn it, reducing the levels of carbon dioxide emissions and “preventing the disaster of global warming.”

Provided by EPSRC