Ben Preiss
 Posted: Mar 3, 08 Views: 665 Geneticist Craig Venter announced a potentially world-changing “fourth-generation fuel” project at an elite Technology, Entertainment and Design conference in Monterey, California. Venter told an audience that included global warming fighter Al Gore and Google co-founder Larry Page, “We have modest goals of replacing the whole petrochemical industry and becoming a major source of energy,  Simple organisms can be genetically re-engineered to produce vaccines or octane-based fuels as waste, according to Venter.
Biofuel alternatives to oil are third-generation. The next step is life forms that feed on CO2 and give off fuel such as methane gas as waste, according to Venter.
"We have 20 million genes which I call the design components of the future," Venter said. "We are limited here only by our imagination."
His team is using synthetic chromosomes to modify organisms that already exist, not making new life, he said. Organisms already exist that produce octane, but not in amounts needed to be a fuel supply.
"If they could produce things on the scale we need, this would be a methane planet," Venter said. "The scale is what is critical; which is why we need to genetically design them."
The genetics of octane-producing organisms can be tinkered with to increase the amount of CO2 they eat and octane they excrete, according to Venter.
The limiting part of the equation isn't designing an organism, it's the difficulty of extracting high concentrations of CO2 from the air to feed the organisms, the scientist said in answer to a question from Page.
Scientists put "suicide genes" into their living creations so that if they escape the lab, they can be triggered to kill themselves.
(news.yahoo)References: treehugger, news.yahoo Filed In: |
| #1 in Trends | Become a Trend Hunter: Login or Join Now Add a Trend |
SUBSCRIBE
UNPUBLISHED
This article has been posted to Ben Preiss's portfolio, but it was not published for the following reason(s):
Title: Format
-
Title: Format
-
Top Geneticist Creating new Life Form that eats CO2, poops Fuel
Edit
Edit
 |
 |
FOUR WAYS TO REACT: vote, favorite, add more examples of Top Geneticist Creating new Life Form that eats CO2, poops Fuel or comment.
;showNav();changeOption('login');)
Log In ;changeOption('guest');)
Guest
Facebook ;changeOption('twitter');)
Twitter 
|
TREND HUNTER is the world's largest trend spotting and cool hunting community. It is an explosion of cool trends and ideas, fueled by a global network of trend spotters and cool hunters. By tracking the evolution of cool, Trend Hunters stimulate creativity and generate breakthrough ideas. About Us Journalim Internships Trends Trend Reports Tools Store RSS (98 Flavors) Innovation Keynotes Exploiting Chaos Terms of Use Tips / Contact Join 0.3033 - Hosted by web1 Trends and Content Copyright © TREND HUNTER Inc. All Rights Reserved.
|
