TECHNOLOGY FOR CHANGE

Lower CO2 Levels Demand More Fermenting Microbes

Dave Greenfield | Date: 07-29-10 | Comments

Genetic engineers are working to manufacture microbes that create carbon-neutral and carbon-negative fuel. Such fuels could greatly reduce the amount of carbon dioxide that is currently being releasing into the atmosphere.

Genetic engineering is a process that still raises images of mutant ants, crops gone wild and end-of-the-world viruses. That same technology, however, may help to reduce Earth's levels of carbon dioxide back to normal.

Many well-known energy corporations are in the process of developing engineered microbes that munch on carbon dioxide. These microbes create carbon-neutral fuel, or even fuel that takes in more CO2 than it emits.

This stunning technology is being pioneered in Germany by scientists who have already mapped the entire genome of some microbes in an effort to genetically enhance them. The genome for Clostridium ljungdahlii contained more than 4 million base pairs, and scientists have already altered the bacteria to emit butanol instead of the usual ethanol.

The problem with this technology is that nature is dealing with our excess carbon dioxide in its own way. For example, algae blooms are up dramatically around the world due in large part because they feed off carbon dioxide. While their processing power is welcome, algae have been known to clog rivers, streams and lakes, and kill everything in their paths.

Scientists even admit that relying solely on genetically modified microbes to save Earth would take millions of years, but the promise of not making things any worse has many multinational corporations scrambling to patent the world's first carbon-negative fuel.

Scientists predict that our current greenhouse gas problem is only going to get worse over the next 40 years. While the Obama administration is pushing citizens to buy more fuel-efficient automobiles, developing countries such as China are upping their emissions dramatically.

Experts predict that a dramatic increase in air travel will make things worse as well. If a carbon-negative fuel is engineered, we may end up crediting our survival as a species to a bunch of microbes with an unending appetite for carbon.