Glasgow solar fuel study looks to put oil back under sea
Scientists at Glasgow University are working towards technology that could remove greenhouse gas from the atmosphere and put oil back under the North Sea.
The research programme is a multi-million pound, multi-disciplinary collaboration.
Its aim is to convert solar energy into liquid fuels that can be easily stored.
The scientists are taking inspiration from the way plants use carbon to store energy from sunlight.
The university's Solar Fuels Group is looking at a way of making a fuel which would give off carbon dioxide when burned - but instead of going into the atmosphere, the carbon would be recycled to make more fuel.
It could also take excess CO2 from the atmosphere, and pump the resulting fuel back into depleted North Sea oilfields.
The researchers concede it will take years and probably billions of pounds to make all this reality.
But they say Scotland has the right infrastructure to achieve it.