March 1, 2008
TALK ABOUT DEFLATIONARY PRESSURE:
Famed geneticist creating life form that turns CO2 to fuel (AFP, 2/28/08)
A scientist who mapped his genome and the genetic diversity of the oceans said Thursday he is creating a life form that feeds on climate-ruining carbon dioxide to produce fuel.Posted by Orrin Judd at March 1, 2008 7:22 PMGeneticist Craig Venter disclosed his potentially world-changing "fourth-generation fuel" project at an elite Technology, Entertainment and Design conference in Monterey, California.
"We have modest goals of replacing the whole petrochemical industry and becoming a major source of energy," Venter told an audience that included global warming fighter Al Gore and Google co-founder Larry Page.
"We think we will have fourth-generation fuels in about 18 months, with CO2 as the fuel stock."
No need to create some new life form that turns CO2 into fuel. Just plant an acorn.
Posted by: Keith R at March 1, 2008 8:58 PMKeith, the history of material progress is largely taking things that nature can do and figuring out ways to make them faster, more efficient, more convenient, etc. Tree are nice but they take up lots of room, grow slowly, and produce a fuel that's bulky and not clean-burning.
Posted by: PapayaSF at March 2, 2008 12:57 AMSo try algae. (I'm guessing that's what Venter's doing, actually.)
But whatever he's planning isn't going to be completely clean burning, either--if it's built from CO2, it's going to turn into CO2 when we burn it anyway.
Posted by: Timothy at March 2, 2008 6:14 AM