Not a "CoalTL" report, and our apologies to any - maybe Jamie and Char especially - who might have little interest in this. But, we thought it intriguing in general and wanted in part to keep lines of communication open. We hope the info will prove of at least modest interest to some.
We're attaching the file in case the link doesn't transmit. It's a "position" paper, sort of an open or "to whom it may concern" letter, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry:
"Energy and Environment Policy Case for a Global Project on Artificial Photosynthesis".
We doubt that we'll use it in a "CoalTL" report since it contains a lot of the obligatory genuflections to how bad CO2 is ... global warming ... blah, blah.
But: It does strongly advocate, as a matter of "energy policy", rather than just the abandonment of fossil fuels, the productive capture and utilization of Carbon Dioxide in the industrial manufacture, via "artificial photosynthesis", of hydrocarbon fuels and chemicals.
There is an impressive list of co-authors - fourteen of them - from around the world, including one working at a USDOE national lab. We've cited some of them in CoalTL, and will likely cite some of the others. Even Saudi Arabia is represented.
The "tone", in general, "out there" seems to us to be changing. It really does now seem feasible to us that industries could be founded on the productive utilization of CO2 in the synthesis of hydrocarbons, with the multiple benefits - potentially - of increased US independence from OPEC; more Coal Country industries and jobs; and, much reduced harassment of our Coal-fired power plants because of CO2 emissions.