A Neon Green technology from Cambridge

Some chemistry developed by the Reisner group of the University of Cambridge recently grabbed my attention. It appears to have similarly grabbed the attention of many others as I have since found numerous reports on it, in a wide range of news outlets. It is no surprise. The Reisner group report on technology they have developed to convert CO2 and plastic waste into useful products. Even more significantly the process is solar powered!

So the method:

-uses the greenhouse gas, CO2 to make useful organic compounds;

-uses plastic waste instead of sending it to land fill, incineration or to cause pollution to make useful organic compounds; and

- employs solar power to drive the process, avoiding CO2 emissions.

The technology seems to be super green, or green squared. I looked up the most vibrant shade of green and it seems to be Neon Green, hence the title of this article.   

I was truly excited to read about this chemistry. If it can be scaled up, it seems that it really could contribute to solving some of the climate issues we all currently face.