Wendy Kenigsberg/Cornell University
Bioengineered microbes may one day be used to store the sun’s energy, as well as absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide to later turn it into fuel. This illustration features microbe images taken by postdoctoral researchers Youngchan Park and Bing Fu in chemistry.
Engineers go microbial to store energy, sequester CO2
December 14, 2020
By borrowing nature’s blueprints for photosynthesis, Cornell bioengineers have found a way to efficiently absorb and store large-scale, low-cost renewable energy from the sun – while sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide to use later as a biofuel.
The key: Let bioengineered microbes do all the work.