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A comment on Artificial photosynthesis can produce food without sunshine. Parent comment

Re:Artificial photosynthesis can produce food without sunshine by nine_k on Saturday July 02, 2022 @08:44AM (#31958560)
Plants have hard time evolving parts that require large pieces of crystalline silicon.

If we can boost plant production using electricity generated by solar panels next (or above) the fields or greenhouses, it could be great. An not only on Mars or Moon, but here on Earth, too.

Faster growth may mean two crops per year instead of one in some places. Acetate is easy to store, so it's a good way to apply the excess solar output during day, and excess nuclear output at night time.

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Re:Artificial photosynthesis can produce food without sunshine by mlyle on Saturday July 02, 2022 @12:47PM (#31960542)
> An not only on Mars or Moon, but here on Earth, too.

I think it'll be niche on Earth, but maybe it has a role to play-- e.g. for food security for cold nations that already rely on greenhouses and could improve yields.

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Re:Artificial photosynthesis can produce food without sunshine by nine_k on Saturday July 02, 2022 @12:52PM (#31960587)
Most of Europe can only have one crop of many cultures per year. What if some of them could grow faster and fit two crops into the summer? This might be useful not only in places like Sweden, but even in places like France.
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Re:Artificial photosynthesis can produce food without sunshine by mlyle on Saturday July 02, 2022 @01:46PM (#31960936)
Maybe. Doing it once in the lab and making it look like the economics might kind of work for a broader area isn't very convincing to me.
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Re:Artificial photosynthesis can produce food without sunshine by kurupt213 on Saturday July 02, 2022 @05:14PM (#31962491)
This is how you grow a winter crop in a warehouse. Right now we are burning tons of fuel to ship fresh produce between northern and Southern Hemispheres depending on which is experiencing the growing season. This could be the path to local fresh produce year round. Possibly more environmentally friendly than the current method.
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Re:Artificial photosynthesis can produce food without sunshine by formerkrogemp on Saturday July 02, 2022 @07:53PM (#31963631)
Iceland has huge greenhouses. Norway is exporting their indoor aquaculture expertise and investments to other countries. We're getting there but not quickly enough.
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