Bugs Could Be Key to Kicking Oil Addiction - Yahoo! News

Bugs Could Be Key to Kicking Oil Addiction - Yahoo! News

The problem with adding alcohol to gas is that it currently takes more energy (and money) to convert living plant matter to alcohol than it does oil. Now, for eating we are OK with a very energy intensive process that creates a safe consumable material. The trick has always been to get the process to create ethanol from plants to be as cheap in money and energy as refining crude. Microbes can do the conversion, but the true trick to commercial production is to get the chemicals that they do their trick with.