From Desmond Mottram
The Global Apollo Programme to persuade governments to spend a sum equivalent to the Apollo space programme on solving our energy needs is to be applauded (6 June, p 6). I do hope the programme remembers that solar energy need not be converted to electricity before it can be stored.
Nature has already cracked the problems of storing and distributing solar energy. Plants eschew mechanical and electrical methods, using biochemistry instead: photosynthesis to capture solar energy and starches and oils to store it. Distribution is then easy.
When nature does something differently to us, we may be missing something. Looked at this way, the challenge is to discover how to use plant chemistry efficiently enough to undercut fossil fuels and not starve people of food. It would be a pity to waste £15 billion a year for 10 years going down the wrong track.
Combe Martin, Devon, UK
