Carbon Dioxide, as harvested from whatever convenient source, can be used and consumed as the key raw material in processes powered by nothing more than simple sunlight - - processes which might be thought of as "artificial photosynthesis" and which require no other raw material but Water - - and be converted in those processes into various hydrocarbons, including and perhaps especially, substitute, fracking-free natural gas Methane.
We have so far presented many reports documenting the development, by Princeton University scientists Andrew Bocarsly and Emily Barton Cole, of technology wherein Carbon Dioxide, as harvested from whatever convenient source, can be efficiently and productively used and consumed in the synthesis of valuable organic chemicals; as in, for just one example:
United States Patent Application: 0150072853
We've made numerous reports over the years documenting the development, by various entities in Saudi Arabia, of technologies wherein Carbon Dioxide, typically stated to be recovered from the exhaust gases of petrochemical plants, is converted into, that is, Carbon Dioxide is consumed in the synthesis of, a range of hydrocarbon fuels and chemicals, from fuel alcohols all the way to what seems to be a synthetic petroleum.
In spite of everything you've been led to believe by the largely indiscriminate media, the United States of America is and is expected to remain, even as the shale gas mania crests, a net importer of natural gas.
We've cited and linked to gas import/export reports, and projections, made available by the USDOE's Energy Information Administration in previous dispatches touching on that issue; but, the format of EIA tabulations of domestic gas production, domestic usage, and net imports and exports, has changed recently and they no longer lend themselves to efficient excerpt and summary.
United States Patent Application: 0140272734
Carbon Dioxide, as we might harvest from the exhaust gases produced during our economically essential use of Coal in the generation of abundant and affordable electric power, is a valuable energy resource.
Carbon Dioxide can, in combination with Water, H2O, be used and consumed as the basic raw materials in the productive synthesis of hydrocarbon fuels and chemicals.