IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v62y2016icp134-163.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can photosynthesis enable a global transition from fossil fuels to solar fuels, to mitigate climate change and fuel-supply limitations?

Author

Listed:
  • Ringsmuth, Andrew K.
  • Landsberg, Michael J.
  • Hankamer, Ben

Abstract

This review article considers Earth as an energy-storing (photosynthetic) and energy-consuming (metabolic) system. We evaluate whether and how photosynthetic, solar fuel-production systems can be engineered and deployed sufficiently rapidly to supplant enough fossil fuel supply to sustain a complex human economy and natural ecosystems over the long term. Geophysical, ecological, economic, technological and political constraints are quantified. We consider the potential to innovate and scale up promising systems such as microalgal and artificial photosynthetic systems to economic viability within a time frame meaningful for mitigating the effects of climate change and fuel-supply limitations. A future global society powered sustainably by solar fuels is forecast to require increased global photosynthetic productivity, through increased photon-conversion efficiency and production area. Increasing the efficiency of socioeconomic energy utilisation is also important. Meeting these challenges on the required time scale demands historically unprecedented technical progress, highlighting the need for both advanced international policy frameworks and scientific excellence. Based on evidence from a broad range of fields, a multiscale systems optimisation approach is identified as important, to integrate analyses from the scale of the global climate, economy and energy systems, down to the nanoscale of light-harvesting and carbon-fixing machinery that drives photosynthesis.

Suggested Citation

  • Ringsmuth, Andrew K. & Landsberg, Michael J. & Hankamer, Ben, 2016. "Can photosynthesis enable a global transition from fossil fuels to solar fuels, to mitigate climate change and fuel-supply limitations?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 134-163.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:62:y:2016:i:c:p:134-163
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2016.04.016
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032116300338
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2016.04.016?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Charles A. S. Hall & Stephen Balogh & David J.R. Murphy, 2009. "What is the Minimum EROI that a Sustainable Society Must Have?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 2(1), pages 1-23, January.
    2. Kirrolia, Anita & Bishnoi, Narsi R. & Singh, Rajesh, 2013. "Microalgae as a boon for sustainable energy production and its future research & development aspects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 642-656.
    3. Bradley J. Cardinale & J. Emmett Duffy & Andrew Gonzalez & David U. Hooper & Charles Perrings & Patrick Venail & Anita Narwani & Georgina M. Mace & David Tilman & David A. Wardle & Ann P. Kinzig & Gre, 2012. "Biodiversity loss and its impact on humanity," Nature, Nature, vol. 486(7401), pages 59-67, June.
    4. Brennan, Liam & Owende, Philip, 2010. "Biofuels from microalgae--A review of technologies for production, processing, and extractions of biofuels and co-products," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 557-577, February.
    5. Ward, James D. & Mohr, Steve H. & Myers, Baden R. & Nel, Willem P., 2012. "High estimates of supply constrained emissions scenarios for long-term climate risk assessment," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 598-604.
    6. Masakazu Iwai & Kenji Takizawa & Ryutaro Tokutsu & Akira Okamuro & Yuichiro Takahashi & Jun Minagawa, 2010. "Isolation of the elusive supercomplex that drives cyclic electron flow in photosynthesis," Nature, Nature, vol. 464(7292), pages 1210-1213, April.
    7. Higgins, Andrew & Paevere, Phillip & Gardner, John & Quezada, George, 2012. "Combining choice modelling and multi-criteria analysis for technology diffusion: An application to the uptake of electric vehicles," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 79(8), pages 1399-1412.
    8. Marcel Schreier & Laura Curvat & Fabrizio Giordano & Ludmilla Steier & Antonio Abate & Shaik M. Zakeeruddin & Jingshan Luo & Matthew T. Mayer & Michael Grätzel, 2015. "Efficient photosynthesis of carbon monoxide from CO2 using perovskite photovoltaics," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 6(1), pages 1-6, November.
    9. Toor, Saqib Sohail & Rosendahl, Lasse & Rudolf, Andreas, 2011. "Hydrothermal liquefaction of biomass: A review of subcritical water technologies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 2328-2342.
    10. Robert W. Gilmer & Emily Kerr, 2010. "Natural gas from shale: Texas revolution goes global," Southwest Economy, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, issue Q3, pages 10-13.
    11. M. Mitchell Waldrop, 2014. "X-ray science: The big guns," Nature, Nature, vol. 505(7485), pages 604-606, January.
    12. R. John Ellis, 2010. "Tackling unintelligent design," Nature, Nature, vol. 463(7278), pages 164-165, January.
    13. J. David Hughes, 2013. "A reality check on the shale revolution," Nature, Nature, vol. 494(7437), pages 307-308, February.
    14. Richard Van Noorden, 2014. "The rechargeable revolution: A better battery," Nature, Nature, vol. 507(7490), pages 26-28, March.
    15. Francoise Nemry & Martijn Brons, 2010. "Plug-in Hybrid and Battery Electric Vehicles. Market penetration scenarios of electric drive vehicles," JRC Working Papers JRC58748, Joint Research Centre (Seville site).
    16. Aaron Clauset & Cristopher Moore & M. E. J. Newman, 2008. "Hierarchical structure and the prediction of missing links in networks," Nature, Nature, vol. 453(7191), pages 98-101, May.
    17. Höök, Mikael & Fantazzini, Dean & Angelantoni, André & Snowden, Simon, 2013. "Hydrocarbon liquefaction: viability as a peak oil mitigation strategy," MPRA Paper 46957, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Verbruggen, Aviel & Al Marchohi, Mohamed, 2010. "Views on peak oil and its relation to climate change policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 5572-5581, October.
    19. Azadi, Pooya & Brownbridge, George & Mosbach, Sebastian & Smallbone, Andrew & Bhave, Amit & Inderwildi, Oliver & Kraft, Markus, 2014. "The carbon footprint and non-renewable energy demand of algae-derived biodiesel," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1632-1644.
    20. Meng, Q.Y. & Bentley, R.W., 2008. "Global oil peaking: Responding to the case for ‘abundant supplies of oil’," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 33(8), pages 1179-1184.
    21. Ramírez Triana, Carlos Ariel, 2011. "Energetics of Brazilian ethanol: Comparison between assessment approaches," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(8), pages 4605-4613, August.
    22. Cleveland, Cutler J. & Kaufmann, Robert K. & Stern, David I., 2000. "Aggregation and the role of energy in the economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 301-317, February.
    23. Fischer, Michael & Werber, Mathew & Schwartz, Peter V., 2009. "Batteries: Higher energy density than gasoline?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(7), pages 2639-2641, July.
    24. Martin Parry & Jean Palutikof & Clair Hanson & Jason Lowe, 2008. "Squaring up to reality," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 1(806), pages 68-71, June.
    25. Johannes Lehmann, 2007. "A handful of carbon," Nature, Nature, vol. 447(7141), pages 143-144, May.
    26. Ziolkowska, Jadwiga R. & Simon, Leo, 2014. "Recent developments and prospects for algae-based fuels in the US," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 847-853.
    27. Maofu Liao & Erhu Cao & David Julius & Yifan Cheng, 2013. "Structure of the TRPV1 ion channel determined by electron cryo-microscopy," Nature, Nature, vol. 504(7478), pages 107-112, December.
    28. Mata, Teresa M. & Martins, António A. & Caetano, Nidia. S., 2010. "Microalgae for biodiesel production and other applications: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 217-232, January.
    29. Verbruggen, Aviel & Lauber, Volkmar, 2009. "Basic concepts for designing renewable electricity support aiming at a full-scale transition by 2050," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 5732-5743, December.
    30. Glen P. Peters & Gregg Marland & Corinne Le Quéré & Thomas Boden & Josep G. Canadell & Michael R. Raupach, 2012. "Rapid growth in CO2 emissions after the 2008–2009 global financial crisis," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 2(1), pages 2-4, January.
    31. Evan Stephens & Ian Ross & Jan H. Mussgnug & Liam Wagner & Michael A. Borowitzka & Clemens Posten & Olaf Kruse & Ben Hankamer, 2010. "Future prospects of microalgal biofuel production systems," Energy Economics and Management Group Working Papers 7-2010, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    32. Charles A.S. Hall & Bruce E. Dale & David Pimentel, 2011. "Seeking to Understand the Reasons for Different Energy Return on Investment (EROI) Estimates for Biofuels," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 3(12), pages 1-20, December.
    33. Marc L. Imhoff & Lahouari Bounoua & Taylor Ricketts & Colby Loucks & Robert Harriss & William T. Lawrence, 2004. "Global patterns in human consumption of net primary production," Nature, Nature, vol. 429(6994), pages 870-873, June.
    34. Vaclav Smil, 2010. "Energy Myths and Realities: Bringing Science to the Energy Policy Debate," Books, American Enterprise Institute, number 50339, September.
    35. Lutz, Christian & Lehr, Ulrike & Wiebe, Kirsten S., 2012. "Economic effects of peak oil," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 829-834.
    36. Chapman, Ian, 2014. "The end of Peak Oil? Why this topic is still relevant despite recent denials," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 93-101.
    37. Cutler J. Cleveland & Peter A. O’Connor, 2011. "Energy Return on Investment (EROI) of Oil Shale," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 3(11), pages 1-16, November.
    38. Unruh, Gregory C., 2000. "Understanding carbon lock-in," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(12), pages 817-830, October.
    39. Singh, Bhaskar & Guldhe, Abhishek & Rawat, Ismail & Bux, Faizal, 2014. "Towards a sustainable approach for development of biodiesel from plant and microalgae," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 216-245.
    40. Liam Wagner & Ian Ross & John Foster & Ben Hankamer, 2016. "Trading Off Global Fuel Supply, CO2 Emissions and Sustainable Development," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(3), pages 1-17, March.
    41. Fantazzini, Dean & Höök, Mikael & Angelantoni, André, 2011. "Global oil risks in the early 21st century," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 7865-7873.
    42. Elisabetta Collini & Cathy Y. Wong & Krystyna E. Wilk & Paul M. G. Curmi & Paul Brumer & Gregory D. Scholes, 2010. "Coherently wired light-harvesting in photosynthetic marine algae at ambient temperature," Nature, Nature, vol. 463(7281), pages 644-647, February.
    43. Erb, Karl-Heinz & Krausmann, Fridolin & Gaube, Veronika & Gingrich, Simone & Bondeau, Alberte & Fischer-Kowalski, Marina & Haberl, Helmut, 2009. "Analyzing the global human appropriation of net primary production -- processes, trajectories, implications. An introduction," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 250-259, December.
    44. Gregory S. Engel & Tessa R. Calhoun & Elizabeth L. Read & Tae-Kyu Ahn & Tomáš Mančal & Yuan-Chung Cheng & Robert E. Blankenship & Graham R. Fleming, 2007. "Evidence for wavelike energy transfer through quantum coherence in photosynthetic systems," Nature, Nature, vol. 446(7137), pages 782-786, April.
    45. Carey W. King & Charles A.S. Hall, 2011. "Relating Financial and Energy Return on Investment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 3(10), pages 1-23, October.
    46. Bahadar, Ali & Bilal Khan, M., 2013. "Progress in energy from microalgae: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 128-148.
    47. Evan Stephens & Liam Wagner & Ian Ross & Ben Hankamer, 2012. "Microalgal production systems: Global impact of industry scale-up," Energy Economics and Management Group Working Papers 12-2012, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Abas, N. & Kalair, A. & Khan, N. & Kalair, A.R., 2017. "Review of GHG emissions in Pakistan compared to SAARC countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 990-1016.
    2. Chen, Yizhong & Lu, Hongwei & Li, Jing & Huang, Guohe & He, Li, 2016. "Regional planning of new-energy systems within multi-period and multi-option contexts: A case study of Fengtai, Beijing, China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 356-372.
    3. He, Li & Du, Peng & Chen, Yizhong & Lu, Hongwei & Cheng, Xi & Chang, Bei & Wang, Zheng, 2017. "Advances in microbial fuel cells for wastewater treatment," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 388-403.
    4. Ramanna, Luveshan & Rawat, Ismail & Bux, Faizal, 2017. "Light enhancement strategies improve microalgal biomass productivity," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 765-773.
    5. Raeisossadati, Mohammadjavad & Moheimani, Navid Reza & Parlevliet, David, 2019. "Luminescent solar concentrator panels for increasing the efficiency of mass microalgal production," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 47-59.
    6. Dickson, Rofice & Liu, J. Jay, 2021. "A strategy for advanced biofuel production and emission utilization from macroalgal biorefinery using superstructure optimization," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    7. Khaya Pearlman Shabangu & Babatunde Femi Bakare & Joseph Kapuku Bwapwa, 2022. "Microbial Fuel Cells for Electrical Energy: Outlook on Scaling-Up and Application Possibilities towards South African Energy Grid," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-27, November.
    8. Devadiga, Dheeraj & Selvakumar, Muthu & Shetty, Prakasha & Santosh, Mysore Sridhar, 2022. "The integration of flexible dye-sensitized solar cells and storage devices towards wearable self-charging power systems: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Delannoy, Louis & Longaretti, Pierre-Yves & Murphy, David J. & Prados, Emmanuel, 2021. "Peak oil and the low-carbon energy transition: A net-energy perspective," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 304(C).
    2. Charles Guay-Boutet, 2023. "Estimating the Disaggregated Standard EROI of Canadian Oil Sands Extracted via Open-pit Mining, 1997–2016," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 1-21, March.
    3. Liam Wagner & Ian Ross & John Foster & Ben Hankamer, 2016. "Trading Off Global Fuel Supply, CO2 Emissions and Sustainable Development," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(3), pages 1-17, March.
    4. Piloto-Rodríguez, Ramón & Sánchez-Borroto, Yisel & Melo-Espinosa, Eliezer Ahmed & Verhelst, Sebastian, 2017. "Assessment of diesel engine performance when fueled with biodiesel from algae and microalgae: An overview," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 833-842.
    5. King, Carey W., 2014. "Matrix method for comparing system and individual energy return ratios when considering an energy transition," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 254-265.
    6. Feng, Huan & Zhang, Bo & He, Zhixia & Wang, Shuang & Salih, Osman & Wang, Qian, 2018. "Study on co-liquefaction of Spirulina and Spartina alterniflora in ethanol-water co-solvent for bio-oil," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 1093-1101.
    7. Bergthorson, Jeffrey M. & Thomson, Murray J., 2015. "A review of the combustion and emissions properties of advanced transportation biofuels and their impact on existing and future engines," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1393-1417.
    8. Geada, Pedro & Rodrigues, Rui & Loureiro, Luís & Pereira, Ricardo & Fernandes, Bruno & Teixeira, José A. & Vasconcelos, Vítor & Vicente, António A., 2018. "Electrotechnologies applied to microalgal biotechnology – Applications, techniques and future trends," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 656-668.
    9. Nirmala, N. & Dawn, S.S., 2021. "Optimization of Chlorella variabilis. MK039712.1 lipid transesterification using Response Surface Methodology and analytical characterization of biodiesel," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 1663-1673.
    10. Lambert, Jessica G. & Hall, Charles A.S. & Balogh, Stephen & Gupta, Ajay & Arnold, Michelle, 2014. "Energy, EROI and quality of life," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 153-167.
    11. Milano, Jassinnee & Ong, Hwai Chyuan & Masjuki, H.H. & Chong, W.T. & Lam, Man Kee & Loh, Ping Kwan & Vellayan, Viknes, 2016. "Microalgae biofuels as an alternative to fossil fuel for power generation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 180-197.
    12. Zhu, Liandong, 2015. "Biorefinery as a promising approach to promote microalgae industry: An innovative framework," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 1376-1384.
    13. Rawat, I. & Ranjith Kumar, R. & Mutanda, T. & Bux, F., 2013. "Biodiesel from microalgae: A critical evaluation from laboratory to large scale production," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 444-467.
    14. Höök, Mikael & Tang, Xu, 2013. "Depletion of fossil fuels and anthropogenic climate change—A review," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 797-809.
    15. Chamkalani, A. & Zendehboudi, S. & Rezaei, N. & Hawboldt, K., 2020. "A critical review on life cycle analysis of algae biodiesel: current challenges and future prospects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    16. Adenle, Ademola A. & Haslam, Gareth E. & Lee, Lisa, 2013. "Global assessment of research and development for algae biofuel production and its potential role for sustainable development in developing countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 182-195.
    17. Trivedi, Jayati & Aila, Mounika & Bangwal, D.P. & Kaul, Savita & Garg, M.O., 2015. "Algae based biorefinery—How to make sense?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 295-307.
    18. Giostri, A. & Binotti, M. & Macchi, E., 2016. "Microalgae cofiring in coal power plants: Innovative system layout and energy analysis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 449-464.
    19. Maity, Sunil K., 2015. "Opportunities, recent trends and challenges of integrated biorefinery: Part I," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 1427-1445.
    20. Ghorbani, Afshin & Rahimpour, Hamid Reza & Ghasemi, Younes & Zoughi, Somayeh & Rahimpour, Mohammad Reza, 2014. "A Review of Carbon Capture and Sequestration in Iran: Microalgal Biofixation Potential in Iran," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 73-100.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:62:y:2016:i:c:p:134-163. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.