Photosynthesis Energy From The Sun

The Proceedings of the 14th International Congress on Photosynthesis is a record of the most recent advances and emerging themes in the discipline. This volume contains over 350 contributions from some 800 participants attending the meeting in Glasgow, UK in July 2007. These range from summary overview presentations from plenary speakers to expanded content of posters presented by students and their supervisors featuring the most recent achievements in photosynthesis research. In the words of Professor Eva-Mari Aro, President of the international Society of Photosynthesis Research 2004-7, “Having been taken for granted for centuries, research in photosynthesis has now become a matter of utmost importance for the future of planet Earth...Major initiatives are underway that will use research into natural and artificial photosynthesis for sustainable energy production....”. These volumes thus provide a glimpse of the future, from the molecule to the biosphere

These Proceedings of the 14th International Congress on Photosynthesis are a record of the most recent advances and emerging themes in research on light energy conversion in biological systems. This volume contains 348 edited and peer-reviewed chapters from the 824 registered participants at the meeting in Glasgow, UK, in July 2007. These contributions range from summary overview presentations of plenary speakers, through invited lectures and selected topical presentations, to expanded contents of posters from research students and their supervisors. All chapters feature novel and on-going achievements in understanding photosynthesis. In the words of Professor Eva-Mari Aro, outgoing President of the International Society for Photosynthesis Research, "Having been taken for granted for centuries, research in photosynthesis has now become a matter of utmost importance for the future of planet Earth… Major initiatives are underway that will use research into natural and artificial photosynthesis for sustainable energy production….". These volumes thus provide a glimpse of the future, from the molecule to the biosphere, as seen by the some of the most active scientists in the world.

Photosynthesis has been an important field of research for more than a century, but the present concerns about energy, environment and climate have greatly intensified interest in and research on this topic. Research has progressed rapidly in recent years, and this book is an interesting read for an audience who is concerned with various ways of harnessing solar energy. Our understanding of photosynthesis can now be said to have reached encyclopedic dimensions. There have been, in the past, many good books at various levels. Our book is expected to fulfill the needs of advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students in branches of biology, biochemistry, biophysics, and bioengineering because photosynthesis is the basis of future advances in producing more food, more biomass, more fuel, and new chemicals for our expanding global human population. Further, the basics of photosynthesis are and will be used not only for the above, but in artificial photosynthesis, an important emerging field where chemists, researchers and engineers of solar energy systems will play a major role.

Concepts of Biology is designed for the single-semester introduction to biology course for non-science majors, which for many students is their only college-level science course. As such, this course represents an important opportunity for students to develop the necessary knowledge, tools, and skills to make informed decisions as they continue with their lives. Rather than being mired down with facts and vocabulary, the typical non-science major student needs information presented in a way that is easy to read and understand. Even more importantly, the content should be meaningful. Students do much better when they understand why biology is relevant to their everyday lives. For these reasons, Concepts of Biology is grounded on an evolutionary basis and includes exciting features that highlight careers in the biological sciences and everyday applications of the concepts at hand.We also strive to show the interconnectedness of topics within this extremely broad discipline. In order to meet the needs of today's instructors and students, we maintain the overall organization and coverage found in most syllabi for this course. A strength of Concepts of Biology is that instructors can customize the book, adapting it to the approach that works best in their classroom. Concepts of Biology also includes an innovative art program that incorporates critical thinking and clicker questions to help students understand--and apply--key concepts.

This book explains the conversion of solar energy to chemical energy and its storage. It covers the basic background; interface modeling at the reacting surface; energy conversion with chemical, electrochemical and photoelectrochemical approaches and energy conversion using applied photosynthesis. The important concepts for converting solar to chemical energy are based on an understanding of the reactions’ equilibrium and non-equilibrium conditions. Since the energy conversion is essentially the transfer of free energy, the process are explained in the context of thermodynamics.

In the modern world, to meet increasing energy demands we need to develop new technologies allowing us to use eco-friendly carbon-neutral energy sources. Solar energy as the most promising renewable source could be the way to solve that problem, but it is variable depending on day time and season. From this side, the understanding of photosynthesis process could be of significant help for us to develop effective strategies of solar energy capturing, conversion, and storage. Plants, algae, and cyanobacteria perform photosynthesis, annually producing around 100 billion tons of dry biomass. Presently, the detailed studies of photosynthetic system structure make functional investigations of the photosynthetic process available, allowing scientists to construct artificial systems for solar energy transduction. This book summarizes exciting achievements in understanding of photosynthetic structures and mechanisms of this process made by world leaders in photosynthesis field, and contains information about modern ideas in development of revolutionary new technologies of energy conversion. Organized according to the natural sequence of events occurring during photosynthesis, the book includes information of both photosynthetic structures and mechanisms and its applications in bioenergetics issues.

‘Eating the Sun’ is the story of the discovery of a miracle: the source of life itself. From the intricacies of its molecular processes to the beauty of the nature that it supports, ‘Eating the Sun’ is a wondering tribute to the extraordinary process that has allowed plants to power the earth for billions of years.