we already know how photosynthesis is done ; so why cant we creat “artificial plants” that take CO2 and gives O2 and energy in exchange?

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we already know how photosynthesis is done ; so why cant we creat “artificial plants” that take CO2 and gives O2 and energy in exchange?

In: Biology

21 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

By artificially creating plantations or, in other words, afforestation. That’s probably the way forward.

If there’s a way to assess how many trees were cut, per capita, and if we replace at least that much, in about 15 to 30 years, we can hit equilibrium? Not sure if my approach is correct (accounting for the time a plant takes to grow into a full size tree).

If annual afforestation exceeds annual per capita consumption, we may actually reverse the trend? But then again, it would probably take a decade or two?

Anonymous 0 Comments

I think a better question would be we know how to make hard things that aren’t wood…. why can’t we stop cutting down trees.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Why do we need artificial plants when we have regular plants?

Anonymous 0 Comments

What about just taking care of nature?

Anonymous 0 Comments

What would the benefit be of this over actual plants?

Anonymous 0 Comments

Why don’t we just use…real plants? ELI5 for me plz

Anonymous 0 Comments

They’re working on it. But the way it happens in plants is that an entire organism revolves around the process and keeps up with the needs until it can’t anymore and dies. And a lot of that is done on a microscopic scale with a pretty small energy excess which the plant uses to grow. From an engineering standpoint it’s more valid to take lessons from plants then to try to reinvent them. They can teach us a lot about optimal use of light energy.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Because people can’t even spell the word create, much less create something like that. so sorry couldn’t resist. Honestly interested in the question though.

Anonymous 0 Comments

I’m interested in why the OP thinks we need artificial plants to this rather than just regular plants. What would artificial plants provide that regular plants would not?

Are there any instances where our technological mimicry of biological systems ends up being superior?

Can you imagine the tech it would take to create a seed that you could just toss out your front door into the dirt and a week later there would be a plant there sucking in C02, capturing that sunlight, and spitting out 02?

Anonymous 0 Comments

It’s about theoretical versus actual versus production. Take for instance batteries. Yes we have batteries with layers as thin as one micron. Yes we can make them actually. Can you mass produce it, and make it cheaper than the alternatives? Probably not. Tesla had same philosophy.. it’s easy to make a model car, not easy to mass produce them.