Well, while that might be possible in the future Ben, we can do something similar now, just by growing a few algae types, Some algae are up to 60% oil, and absorb 2.5 times their bodyweight in atmospheric carbon; and indeed under easily created optimised conditions, double that bodyweight, oil content, and adsorption capability every 24 hours.

And a couple of varieties produce ready to use unrefined, diesel or jet fuel. And child's play to extract from some of the sun dried filtrate.

Moreover the ex crush waste product could be suitable for a food and arable land free, ethanol industry.

WE can utilise the functions of some aerobic and anaerobic bacteria Ben, to extract methane from organic waste, in an aussie invented two tank system, which also produces completely sanitized high carbon soil improver and equally sanitized nutrient loaded wastewater ready made for algae farming.

The scrubbed methane can be bladder stored and fed into a ceramic fuel cell to silently produce the world's cheapest 24/7 electricity on demand.

Or alternatively, passed through a catalyst, which knocks off a few collectable hydrogen atoms to produce liquid methanol, an excellent liquid substitute for petrol. WE can also pass surplus energy from the alternator, o produce oxygen and hydrogen, which can be fed i to the combustion chamber via two separate injectors to add to the range and milage. as would occur if we replaced the radiator with an injection of water directly into the combustion chamber with every sixth power stroke. Add a platinum catalyst inside the combustion chamber and the superheated steam automatically decomposes into O2,+ H, and timed correctly, contributes to the combustion.

The only thing missing Ben, are politicians intelligent enough to actually understand the all the extremely positive implications; one of which would be completely rescuing the Murray and all those folk who depend on it for a livelihood.

Farmed algae require only 1-2% of the water of traditional irrigation. Think about that on a statewide broad scale.
Rhrosty.

Correction and apologies, once the battery is fully charged, surplus alternator energy is passed through tap water in a purpose created inboard tank.
One could also get some additional energy from regenerative braking, which would save wearing out the brake pads?
Rhrosty.

Sorry Bob, but being a Red Dwarf fan has not immunised you from fuzzy thinking, or simply believing those you work with & foolishly trust. While it may be true that the chance that we have warmed the atmosphere is indistinguishable from zero, the amount we have done so, or will do is equally indistinguishable from zero. I expected that molecular microbiologist would have enough math to understand this.

Incidentally do you know that the ABC is occasionally giving us a couple of hours of Red Dwarf late at night?

We already have all these corals, shellfish & Crustaceans which have been doing that job you want to design a virus to do, removing CO2 from our atmosphere for millennia. This is why our flora is now living in a state of near starvation.

I do believe it is a good idea to research making liquid fuels. Sooner or later we will exhaust all hydrocarbons that came during formation of the planet, [like Titan], but we will have to extract the carbon from somewhere other than the air, if we wish to keep the planet uninhabitable for flora, & ourselves.

Hasbeen,

Still fighting the good fight over climate I see.

But 'm afraid it's over old son. The intellectual argument has been won. Turns out that even a majority of US Republicans now support action to curb global warming. See:

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-climatechange-idUSKBN0U52DY20151223

And even the Wall Street Journal conceded way back in 2011 that the biggest predictor of attitude towards global warming among educated Americans is age. The younger ones tended to believe the science.

You're a bit like those Japanese soldiers after World War 2 who went on fighting because they didn't know the war was over.

stevenlmeyer,

The good fight over climate isn't over yet old son.

I'll see your Reuters, "After Paris accord, most U.S. Republicans back action on climate", and raise you with a more recent release, with Wall Street Journal credentials -

U.S. Republicans Increasingly Sceptical Of Climate Alarm
http://www.thegwpf.com/u-s-republicans-increasingly-sceptical-of-climate-alarm/

"GOP candidates who had generally accepted the scientific consensus on man-made climate change, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, have said recently that it is unclear how much, if at all, humans are contributing to warmer temperatures."

So the game's not over just yet steven'. No, not by a long shot.

Whoever writes statements like the following is most certainly not a scientist guided only by the scientific method.

"Human influenced climate-change is happening. There is little or no debate within mainstream science. The probability it's not occurring is so low as to be indistinguishable from zero."

Oh! That would be the author of this rubbish article. He says humans are influencing the climate (trivially true) but doesn't make any argument that leads us to feel compelled to do anything about it. He just assumes any human effect must be catastrophic (you know, end of the world stuff) and must be countered and he has a gimmicky sciencey way to do it.

Oh and he has to counter the nasty 'deniers'. Funny that he said there is little or no debate when here he is basically telling us that those debating on the other side are not just wrong but evil 'deniers'.

I can name tens of thousands of scientists who disagree with him and cite thousands of peer reviewed papers doing the same.

But the probaility of him taking note are so low as to be indistinguishable from zero.

Ben Wade, please tell me if you want to be proved wrong ... or are just curious ... like scientists are supposed to be.