Automated floating factories that manufacture green versions of petrol or diesel could soon be in operation thanks to pioneering work at the University of Cambridge. The system would produce a net-zero fuel that would burn without creating fossil-derived emissions of carbon dioxide. The project is based on a floating artificial leaf which can turn sunlight, water and carbon dioxide into synthetic fuel. These thin, flexible devices could one day be exploited on a industrial scale. …Professor Erwin Reisner envisions carpets of artificial leaves that float on lakes and river estuaries. “The crucial point is that we are not decarbonising the economy through techniques like these,” Reisner said. “Carbon is still a key component. What we are doing is to ‘defossilise’ the economy. We will no longer be burning ancient sources of carbon – coal, oil and gas – and adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, a process that is doing so much damage at present.”