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gramarye wrote >>
With respect to plants' efficiency, I think we might have had this discussion before--in fact I think *I* might have even linked to that MIT article last year.
I do vaguely remember that debate but in this particular instance it was a link my brother sent me.
gramarye wrote >> I think it was linked off of KurzweilAI. ISTR we had a fairly long discussion about how to describe "efficiency." I guess I should clarify that in this case I meant "conversion ratio." Chlorophyll varies in efficiency based on specie and circumstance, but really won't go much higher than 10%.
But there are chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, carotenoids, phycobilins and xanthophyls all working together at optimum wavelengths in each chloroplast. At around a wavelength 480 nanometers, together, they actually have an efficiency of near 100%. (they do a crappy job of wavelengths between 550 and 650 nm.) Metals just have a broader spectrum in which they can capture that light.
gramarye wrote >> Some of the newer materials in labs have conversion ratios close to 50% now, but those use expensive materials. What we're still waiting on--but getting tantalizing close to--is something that combines both a moderately high conversion ratio (it doesn't even have to be stratospheric) with a low enough cost that it beats grid power. That will spell the end of the coal industry,
I agree and am eagerly awaiting putting some of those bad boys on my roof.
gramarye wrote >> not Doug Z's ideological sympathizers in Congress and the federal bureaucracy. Until then, coal will simply be too essential to our economy, and politicians--who, unlike online pundits and ideologues in activist groups, have to deal with real accountability--will invariably run into that fact.
The thing is though, DougZ arguing for action on climate change is comparable to Enzo arguing for the teaching of Transcendental Meditation. They are actually a determent to what they are arguing for. Luckily, I feel Jym Ganahl mostly fits into this camp also and comes across as a kook.
Essentially global warming is just an unbalanced carbon cycle. Not only are we burning excessive amounts of hydrocarbons, we have also destroyed a good portion of the natural carbon sinks where it could be fixed in forests and wetlands. For some reason the focus is always on cars and coal though, where in reality, agriculture is the largest producer of greenhouse gases.
This is where what Manatee said really comes into play. Agriculture done right, can produce the same yields without the industrial inputs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Institute
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