HyperSolar, Inc., the developer of a breakthrough technology to make renewable natural gas using sunlight, reported that its technology holds the key to mitigating projected dangerous CO2 emissions levels. The company’s renewable natural gas can be permanently carbon neutral, meaning that no new CO2 is introduced to the atmosphere after combustion.

In the 2011 World Energy Outlook report, the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that the world is firmly on a devastating course to reach the worst-case scenario in terms of climate change if drastic measures to reduce CO2 emissions are not taken by 2017. It is generally accepted that a global temperature of 2 degrees Celsius is the upper limit of tolerance for maintaining the current planetary climate patterns. However, due to projected increase in fossil fuel consumption by many more countries in the 21st century, a once unimaginable global temperature of 6 degrees Celsius is now being predicted.

“The potentially disastrous effects of climate change are only getting worse, as evidenced by a host of recent studies,” said Tim Young, CEO of Hypersolar. “A major cause of increased CO2 emissions is the increasing use of fossil fuels. With such an enormous investment in the current energy infrastructure, the only meaningful approach to solving the climate change problem is to fundamentally change the source of energy without changing the infrastructure. In the case of HyperSolar, we are changing the source of natural gas from fossil to renewables.”

HyperSolar’s breakthrough technology uses CO2 in the manufacturing of pipeline-ready methane gas for the existing natural gas infrastructure. If the CO2 is obtained from carbon-positive sources such as coal-fired power plants and natural gas power plants, then the renewable natural gas made from HyperSolar’s technology approaches carbon neutral. If the CO2 is obtained from carbon neutral sources such as biofuels, then the renewable natural gas made from HyperSolar’s technology is permanently carbon neutral, meaning that no new CO2 is introduced to the atmosphere after combustion.

Tags: HyperSolar, Inc.