Joule Unlimited claims to have developed a new single-cell plant which can produce diesel fuel from sunlight and carbon dioxide:
Henry Ford, the father of the modern assembly line, predicted a future where fuel would be mass-produced from natural materials like fruit, weeds, or even sawdust — renewable alternatives to finite fossil fuels. Still, one energy technology being developed by Joule Unlimited, a company in Cambridge, Mass., might have surprised even him: a plant that sweats diesel.
Plants use the sun to convert carbon dioxide into energy, but Joule has designed tiny, gene-altered organisms (essentially single-celled plants) that use the photosynthetic process to create liquid fuel. Stored in brackish water enclosed in glass panels, they grow for a few days before a genetic switch is flipped, diverting their energy toward fuel production. The diesel, which they pump out continuously, is circulated away to a separator, where it’s extracted and sent to a storage tank. After several weeks, the plants are flushed away and the process starts over again. These microscopic organisms can be genetically engineered to secrete diesel or other chemicals the company plans on commercializing; president and CEO Bill Sims calls the technology an “above-ground oil well.”
they seem to have “forgotten” to mention the cost to ship it and don’t forget the extreme profit that the gas stations selling it will want to make.
Comment by will penman — June 3, 2010 @ 17:20
Big deal. I can fart diesel.
The difference is, I guess, that Taco Bell is not a near zero-cost feedstock, unlike the sunlight and CO2 noted above.
Comment by Lickmuffin — June 3, 2010 @ 18:52
The Ontario government and the Canadian federal government each get a nice chunk of change every time you fill the tank: Ontario Ministry of Energy FAQ. Note that the smallest slice of the pie goes to the “retail margin”.
Comment by Nicholas — June 3, 2010 @ 21:36