Bacteria Can Provide Clean Energy

Long term renewable energy is critical to our future. While many technologies are in the early stages, a lot of progress has been and continues to be made.

Every few weeks I read an article about a new method being discovered or an improvement in yields, energy efficiency or a new catalyst created by nanotechnology.

Science Daily: Hydrogen producers

and

Cyanobacteria to produce fuel
A key point noted by Eva Mari Aro, the vice-chair of the ESF conference, was that there is now universal agreement over the ability of photosynthesis to provide large amounts of clean energy in future. While the sustainable options currently pursued such as wind and tidal power will meet some requirements, they will not be able to replace fossil fuels as sources of solid energy for driving engines, nor are they likely to be capable on their own of generating enough electricity for the whole planet.
Meanwhile the current generation of biofuel producing crops generally convert less than 1% of the solar energy they receive to biomass, which means they would displace too much agricultural land used for food production to be viable on a large scale. There is the potential to develop dedicated systems, whether based on cyanobacteria, plants, or artificial components, capable of much higher efficiencies, reaching 10% efficiency of solar energy conversion. This would enable enough energy and fuel to be produced for a large part of the planet's needs without causing significant loss of space for food production.


Over the next few years, we will see the discovery and reapplication of existing bacteria, followed by genetic modifications and eventually some man-made "bacteria".
Bacteria can produce oil/gas type of hydrocarbon fuels as well as hydrogen for fuel cells.