Along with global warming/climate change, one of the bigger broad issues on our planet today has to do with the energy sources that we use on a daily basis. Eventually there will be no more fossil fuel to turn into gasoline for our cars or oil to heat our homes, so in the event that we run out of fossil fuel, how will we be able to fuel our cars and homes? A recent article by Shankia Gunaratna of CBS News revealed a surprising finding made by scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Ethanol, which is commonly used in cars, can be produced with carbon dioxide – an exciting discovery that could be the solution to the world’s energy problem (Wikipedia)

The scientists in Oak Ridge discovered a way to turn carbon dioxide, one of the most common greenhouse gases on our planet, into ethanol, which is used commonly to fuel our cars. And, according to head study author Adam Rondinone, this discovery with huge potential implications was made completely accidentally. While Rondinone and a group of scientists were testing other chemical reactions with implications in nanotechnology & electricity, they discovered the process of turning CO2 into ethanol. The process is done by combining carbon, copper and nitrogen; this combination initiates a chemical reaction that, in essence, is a reverse combustion of ethanol. This creates a solution of carbon dioxide that, once dissolved in water with the help of a nanotechnology-based catalyst, changed into ethanol.

This discovery, which was made back in 2014, is extremely exciting for everyone in the world that uses ethanol on a regular basis. Since these findings were first made two years ago, the Oak Ridge Lab has tested their work again and again, and they continuously made ethanol from carbon dioxide. These repeated experiments lead many to believe that they didn’t find ethanol from CO2 due to chance, and further validates and solidifies the credibility of their discovery. According to reference.com, there were approximately 210 million licensed drivers in the United States in 2010 – a number that has likely increased in the past six years. That’s approximately 2/3 of the United States’ 2014 population of 319 million people (source), with the other third likely accounting for children & adolescents under the required driving age of each respective state. The potential consequences of these are obvious, and they are extremely helpful to car manufacturers and consumers alike.