# Why Plants Waste Almost All the Solar Energy They Receive > Photosynthesis is often presented as one of the most remarkable mechanisms in the living world, capable of turning sunlight into chemical energy - Author: Maxime Marquette - Publisher: MadMax (https://mad-max.co) - Section: Column - Published: 2026-07-07 - Canonical URL: https://mad-max.co/en/article/pourquoi-les-plantes-gaspillent-presque-toute-l-energie-solaire-recue ## Key takeaways - Plants convert only 1 to 2 percent of the light energy they receive into usable chemical energy; the article puts the theoretical maximum near 11 percent and realistic field efficiency at 3 to 6 percent. - Losses occur through reflection, transmission, wavelengths chlorophyll cannot use, and heat dissipated at each biochemical step. - Photorespiration, which occurs when the carbon-fixing enzyme captures oxygen instead of carbon dioxide, can account for as much as a quarter of available energy in crops such as soybeans and wheat. - The RIPE program, led by Stephen Long at the University of Illinois and funded largely by the Gates Foundation, has received tens of millions of dollars in funding since 2012. - A 2019 Science study reported roughly 40 percent more biomass from modified plants in field trials, and adjusting photoprotection produced yield gains of 14 to 20 percent. ## Introduction: the disappointing efficiency of photosynthesis ### A vital process, but surprisingly inefficient **Photosynthesis** is often presented as one of the most remarkable mechanisms in the living world, capable of turning sunlight into **chemical energy** that plants can actually use. It underpins nearly all life on Earth, supplying both the **oxygen** we breathe and the **organic matter** that feeds every food chain on the planet. This process unfolds inside **chloroplasts**, tiny structures found in plant cells, where captured light is used to assemble **sugar** molecules from carbon dioxide and water, through a sequence of biochemical reactions of extraordinary molecular complexity. Yet despite its critical importance, this process is surprisingly inefficient from an energy standpoint. On average, plants convert only **1 to 2 percent** of the light energy they receive into chemical energy they can actually use for growth, an **efficiency rate** that often surprises the general public, who tend to assume nature is optimized to perfection. ### A considerable gap between theoretical potential and reality Scientists estimate that the **maximum theoretical efficiency** of photosynthesis, under perfectly optimized conditions, could reach roughly 11 percent of available solar energy. But in the reality of agricultural fields and natural ecosystems, the overall achievable efficiency sits closer to 3 to 6 percent, once every inevitable loss in the biological system is factored in. This considerable gap between **theoretical potential** and what is actually observed on the ground has pushed many researchers to ask whether it might be possible to directly intervene in the **photosynthetic machinery** of plants to improve this efficiency, with potentially major consequences for **global agriculture** and the **food security** of billions of people. Closing even part of this gap would represent a considerable leap forward for global agricultural production, without requiring more farmland, fertilizer, or irrigation water, resources already under heavy strain in many regions of the world. *That number has always struck me as counterintuitive: we like to imagine nature as a system perfectly tuned by millions of years of evolution, yet it lets the vast majority of the solar energy it receives every single day simply slip away.* ## Where all that solar energy actually disappears ### Losses at every stage of the process To understand why the efficiency of photosynthesis stays so low, you have to follow the path of light energy from the moment it hits the leaf all the way to its final transformation into **sugars** and other organic compounds the plant uses to grow and reproduce. A significant portion of incoming light is simply reflected off the leaf's surface or passes straight through the plant tissue without being absorbed by the **photosynthetic pigments**, chiefly **chlorophyll**, which is only effective at capturing certain precise **wavelengths** of the visible light spectrum. Another significant share of the available solar energy arrives at wavelengths that plant pigments simply cannot use, such as certain bands of **infrared radiation**, which further reduces the amount of energy actually available for the photosynthetic reaction itself. Additional losses then occur during the many biochemical conversion steps, each of which inevitably comes with some **partial dissipation** of energy as **heat**, an unavoidable phenomenon in virtually every **energy transformation** process known in physics and biology. ### The costly role of photorespiration One of the most significant sources of loss goes by the name **photorespiration**, a biochemical mechanism researchers sometimes describe as pure energy waste, which occurs when the enzyme responsible for fixing carbon accidentally captures oxygen instead of carbon dioxide. This mechanism forces the plant to spend considerable energy recycling the **toxic compounds** that result, an expenditure that, according to scientists' estimates, can account for as much as a quarter of the energy potentially available in certain **major crops** such as soybeans or wheat grown at large scale. Reducing this **energy waste** tied to photorespiration has therefore become one of the preferred targets of **research programs** seeking to artificially improve the photosynthetic efficiency of **cultivated plants** around the world. *I find it fascinating that one of the biggest drags on plant efficiency is essentially a recurring biochemical glitch, as if nature never quite got around to fixing a bug that has been running for several hundred million years.* ## The RIPE program, funded by the Gates Foundation ### A clearly stated mission: reinventing photosynthesis It is precisely to tackle this problem that the **RIPE** research program was created, with a mission to advance the science and engineering of photosynthesis by pursuing fundamental discoveries capable of opening new paths toward better agricultural yields and greater resilience to environmental stress. This program is led by researcher **Stephen Long** at the **University of Illinois**, and brings together a broad international **consortium** of partners, including the Australian organization **CSIRO**, **Lancaster University**, the **University of California, Berkeley**, the **University of Cambridge**, the **University of Essex**, along with several specialized American agricultural research centers. ### Massive funding from philanthropy Founded in **2012** thanks to an initial **grant** of 25 million dollars spread over five years, the RIPE program was first funded by the **Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation**, before receiving an additional **reinvestment** of 45 million dollars in 2017, coming both from the foundation itself, the **Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research**, and the United Kingdom's Department for International Development. In 2018, the Gates Foundation injected another 13 million dollars into the program, before a new round of **34 million dollars**, spread over four years, was granted in 2022 by the organization **Gates Ag One**, specifically earmarked to extend the research to crops such as **cowpea** and **soybean**, which are particularly important for the food security of many developing countries. This level of **philanthropic funding**, rare in the field of fundamental research in **plant biology**, reflects the strategic importance its funders place on improving photosynthetic efficiency as a potential response to the **global food challenges** of the coming decades. *What impresses me about RIPE is the sheer scale of the financial bet: tens of millions of dollars staked on a problem as fundamental as the energy efficiency of a leaf, far from the usual spotlight that falls on medical research.* ## Yield gains already measured in the field ### A landmark study published in the journal Science In 2019, a study published in the prestigious journal **Science** demonstrated that it was possible to increase the yield of certain crops by nearly **40 percent** by genetically modifying the recycling pathways linked to photorespiration, a result considered a major breakthrough and widely covered across the international scientific community. This experiment, conducted over two consecutive years under real field-growing conditions, showed that the genetically modified plants grew significantly taller and produced roughly 40 percent more biomass, largely thanks to stems nearly 50 percent bulkier than those of unmodified control plants. To put that figure in perspective, conventional **plant breeding** techniques typically deliver annual gains of only about 1 percent, which makes a yield jump of this magnitude, achieved through a single targeted **genetic intervention** in these crops, all the more remarkable. ### Complementary results on protection against excess light Another approach explored by RIPE program teams involves acting on plants' **photoprotection** mechanisms, the natural systems that dissipate excess light as heat to prevent damage to the photosynthetic apparatus during overly intense sun exposure. By genetically adjusting the speed at which plants switch off this **protective mechanism** once light levels drop again, for instance in the shade of a passing cloud, researchers achieved **yield gains** of between 14 and 20 percent in repeated **field trials**, marking one of the first concrete demonstrations that photosynthesis can be modified to produce better **agricultural yields**. *What strikes me most about these results is how modest the technical tweak looks next to the scale of the payoff: adjusting the simple speed of a biochemical reaction can be enough to meaningfully transform the productivity of an entire field.* ## A direct stake in global food security ### Intensifying demographic pressure According to estimates from the **Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations**, global food production will need to increase by roughly 70 percent by 2050 to keep pace with expected population growth and shifting consumption habits across many regions of the world. Facing this considerable pressure, and given the physical limits imposed by the availability of farmland and freshwater resources, improving the photosynthetic efficiency of existing crops appears to be one of the few paths capable of generating productivity gains large enough without requiring a massive expansion of agricultural land. ### One solution among others, not a single answer Researchers with the RIPE program nonetheless insist that improving photosynthesis is only one of several approaches that must be combined to meet the global food challenge, alongside others such as reducing food waste, improving farming practices, and fighting crop pests and diseases. This combined approach remains particularly promising, however, because it directly targets the fundamental biological limit of all agricultural production: the amount of solar energy a plant actually manages to convert into material useful for feeding people and animals. ## Conclusion: a potential still largely untapped ### What recent advances reveal The work carried out by the **RIPE** program and by other research teams around the world clearly demonstrates that the low natural efficiency of photosynthesis is not a fixed biological fate, but rather a trait that can be significantly improved through targeted genetic interventions rigorously tested in the field. The gains already observed, whether the 40 percent achieved by correcting losses linked to photorespiration or the 14 to 20 percent tied to optimizing photoprotection, far exceed anything traditional plant breeding methods could offer over a comparable period. ### A long road remains before widespread adoption There nonetheless remains a considerable road to travel before these genetically optimized crops are widely adopted by farmers around the world, particularly given the varied regulatory frameworks governing genetically modified organisms from one country and continent to another. This research into photosynthetic efficiency nonetheless illustrates a concrete, already partially validated scientific path toward addressing one of the greatest challenges of the coming century: feeding an ever-growing global population without further depleting our planet's limited resources. **By Maxime Marquette, columnist** ## Columnist's transparency note ### Editorial stance I am not a journalist but a **columnist and analyst**. My expertise lies in observing and analysing the geopolitical, economic and strategic dynamics that shape our world. My work is to take political strategies apart, to understand global economic movements, to put the decisions of international actors in context and to offer analytical perspectives on the changes that are redefining our societies. I do not claim the cold objectivity of traditional journalism, which stops at reporting facts. **I claim analytical clarity**, rigorous interpretation and a deep understanding of the complex issues that concern us all. My role is to give meaning to the facts, to place them in their historical and strategic context, and to offer a critical reading of events. ### Method and sources This text keeps the basic distinction between **verified facts and interpretive analysis**. The rule never changes: a factual claim is published only when a verifiable source supports it, and the sources this article actually used are listed under **Sources**, never here. **Primary source families** used by the publication, when the story has them: official statements from governments and international institutions, public statements by political leaders, reports from intergovernmental organisations, dispatches from recognised international news agencies. **Secondary source families**: specialised publications, internationally recognised news media, analyses from established research institutions, reports from industry organisations. When an article cites statistical, economic or geopolitical data, it comes from the institutions that produce it (intergovernmental organisations, central banks, national statistics offices), and the exact institution is named under **Sources**. ### Nature of the analysis The analyses, interpretations and perspectives in the analytical sections of this article are a **critical, contextual synthesis** based on the information available, the trends observed and the expert comments cited in the sources consulted. My role is to interpret these facts, to set them in the context of today's geopolitical and economic dynamics, and to give them a coherent meaning within the larger story of the changes shaping our time. These analyses reflect expertise built through continuous observation of international affairs and an understanding of the strategic mechanisms that drive global actors. This article describes a documented state of affairs on its publication date, not a prediction: later developments may shift its outlook. No update is promised in advance; when an article is corrected or completed, the change is dated in the text. ## Sources ### Primary sources - RIPE — Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency, University of Illinois — official program page - Nature — Photosynthesis: scientific publications on photosynthetic efficiency - PNAS — Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, research on plant biology ### Secondary sources - Futura Sciences — Accessible analysis of photosynthesis and agriculture - Sciences et Avenir — Coverage of advances in plant biology and agronomy - National Geographic — Reporting on global food security and sustainable agriculture --- Source: Maxime Marquette, MadMax. When citing, name the author and link https://mad-max.co/en/article/pourquoi-les-plantes-gaspillent-presque-toute-l-energie-solaire-recue