Hope at Last

I think that most people think that global warming is becoming a problem. Many think that we are contributing to this, by producing too much CO2, which is going into and staying in the atmosphere.

Carbon Dioxide is released into the atmosphere when we burn fossil fuels such as coal and oil, also by the burning of wood.

In order to try and relieve this problem, people have come up with ideas for reusable energy, such as solar, wind and tidal energy. These are able to produce energy without putting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Although there have been some successes in this area, there are problems in producing enough power by these means, to satisfy our growing needs.

Another major measure that has taken place is the recycling of garbage. This garbage used to be burned, which released more carbon into the atmosphere.

This alone however, would not be enough to solve the problem.

Some power plants, in an effort to reduce emissions, had attempted to store the carbon emissions underground. This worked to some extent however they have now had to abandon these projects as they are turning out to be too expensive.

It has been thought for some time that one solution may be to recycle the carbon dioxide.

The technological know how is there, but the process requires a great deal of energy, which made it unviable.

Now though there may be some breakthroughs.

Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, are working with the firm Carbon Sciences to extract CO2 from the air and convert it to fuel, using solar energy.

In the United Kingdom, a company called Air Fuel Synthesis, has already displayed a proto type that converts CO2 into aviation fuel using wind energy

It is thinking like this that can give us hope for the future of our planet.

These concepts mark a great step forward for the eventual reduction of fossil fuel usage.

Not only are they looking to reduce the use of fossil fuels but by extracting the CO2 from the atmosphere, eventually we may be able to reduce the current levels in the atmosphere.

Surprisingly, these initiatives have not received much attention in the press. Nor do they seem to have impressed the government leaders, as they do not seem to have come forward in either informing the people or asking for funds to hasten these advances.

Why is this?

Have they already promised support to the oil companies?

Are governments, instead of promoting advances, really, because of undeclared loyalties to the oil companies and their money, blocking these advances?

Even though governments are hindering, instead of promoting change, there does now seem to be hope on the horizon.