Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have been steadily increasing due to human activity in the form of burning fossil fuels and deforestation. About 8 to 10 billion tons of carbon is added to our atmosphere each year. Even more sobering is that total world energy consumption is projected to increase by 50 percent from 2005 to 2030, according to the Energy Information Administration. As the world population increases from 6.5 billion to 9 billion people over the next 45 years, and countries continue to industrialize, it is estimated that more than 20 billion tons of carbon is released to the atmosphere each year.A cleaner energy future depends on the development of alternative energy technologies or sources to meet the worlds growing energy needs but that also mitigate carbon dioxide emissions.