Global Artificial Photosynthesis and Renewable Energy Storage and Policy for the Sustainocene

Abstract

Among developing strategies for renewable energy conversion and storage, artificial photosynthesis (AP) has many long-term advantages over currently favored strategies such as small- and large-scale lithium-ion batteries. Such advantages may not be clearly revealed by recent methods of AP including hybrid nanotechnology–synthetic biology systems. This paper critiques some of these recent developments in the context of the long-term goal of integrating AP (conducted without enslaving biological life) into every road and building on the Earth's surface. It considers the advantages and disadvantages of this as a long-term energy storage solution and reflects on how such disadvantages may be overcome.