Venter's Energy Bug

by Sheril R. Kirshenbaum     Department: Earth

No doubt all this excess CO2 in the atmosphere is mucking up the planet, throwing all sorts of plants, animals, and natural cycles off kilter.

Enter Craig Venter.

Yes, the very same fellow who decoded the human genome in 2000 faster than anyone.  Eight years later, he's set his sights on something that could be even bigger--replacing the petrochemical industry!

In short, the most well-known man in genomics is manipulating chromosomes and trying to create an organism that will ingest CO₂, water, and sunlight, to give off fuels like diesel and gasoline that we can use it today's automobiles.  An energy bug.  Really.

The latest Newsweek provides Venter's description of the anticipated 'large, bacteria-processing fermenters', comparing the process to how we make wine and beer:

We're using similar processes, but ones that are designed to produce much more complex molecules than ethanol, and therefore fuels that will be much higher in energy content, and will work well with the existing energy infrastructure.

While he feels the government has created a disincentive for new technologies and new ideas, he's developing a 'fourth generation alternative fuel' which would essentially convert carbon dioxide to energy.  No, the technology is not quite available yet, but it's an intriguing idea from someone who has proven himself already.  And he says the it may be years--not decades--away.

The big question:  Should such an energy bug be created, how will we know what it's impacts will be?  What about all of the uncertainties given the complexity of our natural system?  In his words:

We're playing a very dangerous game by adding more and more CO₂--it's like playing Russian roulette with the planet. So reducing the amount of CO₂ going into the atmosphere is very clearly a positive thing. If humanity can match that challenge, it would be a very important step towards our long-term survival.

As I wrote in my last post on Venter, I'll have to learn more before I'm able to develop an informed opinion, but once again, I'm interested to hear what readers think...

Scientific revolution or dangerous idea?

Tags: bacterium, climate change, genome, venter

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