Liberal Talk Radio

So we all know that there isn’t enough corn on the planet to supply all our ethanol needs. Which is why the Prez talked about switchgrass and other plant waste as possible sources of raw material. The trick is in converting those items into sugar, so they can be fermented into ethanol.

It looks like the answer might like in genetically-engineered microbes!

Breaking cellulose into sugar to spin straw into ethanol has been studied for at least 50 years. But the technological hurdles and costs have been so daunting that most ethanol producers have relied on heavy government subsidies to squeeze fuel from corn.

Researchers are now exploring various ways to exploit microbes, the one-cell creatures that serve as the first link of life’s food chain. One company uses the microbe itself to make ethanol. Others are taking the genes that make the waste-to-fuel enzymes and splicing them into common bacteria. What’s more, a new breed of “synthetic biologists” are trying to produce the necessary enzymes by creating entirely new life forms through DNA.

Yes, that’s right: we’re talking about engineering tiny bugs that eat plant waste and crap energy.

Awesome.