Recently I’ve seen articles and several blogs concerning this story in which a new technology promises to make fuel from CO2 and super heated catalytic cobalt ferrite. Just so you know, the heat in the prototype (see image) comes from concentrated solar power. It’s an exciting idea. Put chemistry to good work and produce energy from what has widely been blamed for occurring and potential catastrophes. In theory we could have our cake and eat it too, along with some extra proverbial frosting. The technology is still a decade or so away so don’t get too excited. We still need to drastically cut back on our CO2 emissions before we start pumping it into our gas tanks.

Having said that, this news struck a special cord with me, as it relates directly to a topic that is near to my heart: coal. Black, cold, and derived from dead matter, coal (not my heart) causes and attracts a lot of heat in the environmental arena. I have tried to offer a fresh perspective on the issue in previous posts, but there’s no getting around certain facts. Coal is dirty and cleaning it up by any available method is expensive. With China perhaps exceeding the USA on CO2 emissions and expanding its use of coal, I think it’s safe to assume that sequestering pollutants will not fall upon a country that needs help to revive its two largest and very dead rivers. Coal as an industry is under fire at home and from the international community and with pressure mounting, something has to give.

That’s why, reading about fuel from CO2, I was excited. I don’t believe that this technology will ever redeem CO2 intensive industries or practices, but it has the potential to help. I believe that if our goal is to reduce and repair some of the damage done to the environment, we’ll have to use every available method. We also have to accept that amidst the compromises and shifting landscapes of our civilization, we will always have to adapt to the disparity between our intentions and their resultant realities. This tool, in my humble opinion, could provide a positive change for the future.