The Birth of Fake Plastic Trees, Perhaps?

Here's a thought-provoking development.

"Carbon nanotubes are the crucial chemical ingredient that could make artificial photosynthesis possible, say a team of Chinese researchers. The team has found that nanotubes mimic an important step in photosynthesis that chemists have been unable to copy until now.

Artificial photosynthesis has the potential to efficiently produce hydrogen that could be used as a clean fuel for vehicles. It could also be used to mop up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere."

Yet another cool advancement in technology with far-reaching green implications. Yet we are supposed to cease any exploration into oil-resources.

I know that it might be a dead end, but it's not the only area of exploration. From my view, there are two possible courses of action:

1. We drastically reduce emissions with draconinan practices, a la "cap and trade" or substituting current practices with far more expensive alternatives like ethanol or wind. A few years down the road, we discover a technology that erases or reduces greenhouse gases to "satisfactory" levels (if there can even be satisfactory levels for the Gore cult). We realize that we were needlessly thrifty, but shrug it off. "How were we supposed to know?"

2. Believing that there will be solutions down the road, we unapologetically search out every resource and use the cheapest and most potent. 10 years later (for argument's sake), we discover the same salvific technology, and clean up our "mess".

I utterly reject the concept that there is no solution besides reduction of energy use. It flies in the face of energy history, and the preponderance of science news mocks the concept of "no way out but down." There will be some advance at some point that improves efficiency and decreases carbon emission. There is as much chance of no solution as there is the chance that there will never be a computer more powerful than a Cray or other supercomputer. The results are simply too overwhelming to neo-Luddism.