First impressions

With copious solar and wind power, A 100-year-old recipe for making ammonia could power the globe without carbon

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Ammonia is 1 nitrogen atom bonded to 3 hydrogen atoms may not seem like an ideal fuel: The chemical, used in household cleaners, smells foul and is toxic. But its energy density by volume is nearly double that of liquid hydrogen its primary competitor as a green alternative fuel and it is easier to ship and distribute. "You can store it, ship it, burn it, and convert it back into hydrogen and nitrogen, "In many ways, it's ideal."

Most is used as fertilizer. Plants crave nitrogen, used in building proteins and DNA, and ammonia delivers it in a biologically available form.

In recent decades the technology has enabled farmers to feed the world's exploding population. It's estimated that at least half the nitrogen in the human body today comes from a synthetic ammonia plant.

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