See

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080603102752.htm

for details

but a taste

"When people think of capturing sunlight energy in biomass, they
focus on plants, which are familiar. However, plants are quite
inefficient at capturing sunlight energy and turning it into biomass
that can be used a fuel," Rittmann explains. As a result, plants could
provide only a tiny fraction of our society's energy needs. "Obviously,
we need the plants for producing food and sustaining natural
ecosystems. Plants simply fail the scalability, environmental, and food
tests."

In contrast, microoganisms, the smallest forms of life on Earth, can
meet the scalability and environmental tests. Rittmann sees a vast
untapped potential of using microbes in service to society to meet our
energy challenges.

"Photosynthetic bacteria can capture sunlight energy at rates 100
times or more greater than plants, and they do not compete for arable
land," Rittmann said. This high rate of energy capture means that
renewable biofuels can be generated in quantities that rival our
current use of fossil fuels.

In addition, non-photosynthetic microorganisms are capable of
converting the energy value of all kinds of biomass, including wastes,
into readily useful energy forms, such as methane, hydrogen, and
electricity.

"Microorganisms can provide just the services our society needs to
move from fossil fuels to renewable biofuels," said Rittmann. "Only the
microorganisms can pass all the tests, and we should take full
advantage of the opportunities that microorganisms present."

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