Let's hope that they license at a reasonable rate so that it can do some good for the many and not just a few.

Why does this sound like a different name for "Algae?"

$30/barrel sounds good. I wonder if that includes credits for CO2 abatement at the coal plant?

I also wonder how hearty the organisms are?

HB - My thoughts exactly ...

Sorry microorganisms need more than CO2 and water; they also need nitrogen and sulphur and potassium and phosphorus and iron and sodium and a bunch of other elements and compounds.

What will this e-coli do to people if it gets into the environment. I was talking to a man yesterday that had an e-Coli infection for more than ten years and required 27 major surgeries. What will the growth channels cost to cover an acre. What will the acre of land cost. Will it be more efficient to use parabolic solar collectors on that area that need no water and no CO2 and generate electricity for automobile batteries.

I will leave it as an exercise for another reader to use the total solar energy input of the sunniest spot in the US and see what the efficiency of conversion is from solar to fuel. Then the average conversion efficiency of an automobile ICE gets rid of at least 75 percent of the energy of the sun. How much energy is needed to operate the system and extract the oil from the organisms.

Nuclear puts 30 percent of the fission energy on the wires from a very small area. ..HG..

Thanks. You have made it obvious that electrical generation from solar cells, even, is better. People would be quite lucky to get 6 kilowatt hours per day per square meter raw input.

The cost of oil production for almost every well in the world is less than 5 dollars a barrel and sometimes less than one dollar. Any investors in a project that produces oil at 30 dollars a barrel can be wiped out by a few years at 20. But ethanol is a drain on the economy and a net producer of CO2, so there is no reason that these people should not do likewise. ..HG..

Its good to see this sort of news, as it sends very strong signals that private mobility could have a sustainable future, as part, of course, of a wider integrated mix of transport solutions. After all there's no one size fits all approach. Walking, cycling, taking the bus and driving all have their own advantages and also drawbacks - some of which are exaggerated by certain political persuasions. Hence this means that we won't be seeing these headlines soon on any fundamentalist environmental website's media pages.

HG - France, with nuclear power providing 80% of its electricity, does prove your point. But French citizens, for maybe 10% higher total taxes, also have actual universal health care, free college tuition(even to the Doctorate level), national 200 mph electric rail/130 million annual passengers, job security and a general feeling of well being.

This seems to flow from representatives who actually fear their citizens, even rioting citizens, more than all corporate special interests, lobbying, and payoffs combined.

History is clear, invading other countries bleeds a nation economically, and otherwise, to death. The balancing compensation is that "to the victor belong the spoils", but - even with the "mission accomplished" - where are Joe American's spoils?

Aside from accumulating their own personal wealth, US leaders have somehow managed to return only crushing national debt(average, six(6) figures each) to the citizen's of the world's greatest super power for sixty years and only super power for the past twenty years and counting!

In other words, what works and would be in the US citizen's interest clearly can't be our representative's actual agenda.

Hi Henry,
You've made a good point, that OPEC will lower the price of a barrel of oil down to $20 to wipe out Joule and investors. Therefore, like I have posted many times before, we will need Uncle Sam to play along as a partner:

First, adjust petroleum taxes as often as possible, so as to prevent retail price dropping of gasoline.

Second, legislate a gradually-increasing retail price of petroleum fuels that perhaps will double the pump prices of gasoline and diesel in 10-15 years and thereafter will stay the same level, or increasing at a lower rate. The yearly-mandated increase in retail fuel prices is so slow that most people can afford and adapt. Wise people will appreciate this, since this a great insurance against the price-gouging and sudden price-doubling-economy-destroying petroleum price hikes of 2008 and of previous decades.

Wise petroleum executives, boards, and investors will play along with Uncle Same and the people, by investing in renewable fuels development, instead of play foul and become obstructionists to the detriment of all human and living things in the Earth. The petroleum industry will have nothing to lose and billions of USD to gain, and all of us will have everything to gain...except for the Devil, who won't sleep easy and will try to corrupt the minds of many susceptible weaklings!!!

First, don't bet on the $30/barrel price, CWT talked about a similar number before they built their turkey waste plant next to Butterball and in the end it was $90/barrel! Second, I don't think OPEC can pull the price collapse trick again, they don't have the spare capacity. My hope is this kind of thing can keep the planes flying and the combines running but there's no doubt in my mind we're going to mostly drive EVs, the efficiency numbers are just too good. Still great news!