Is it safe? Can we be sure these bacteria won\'t escape or mutate and wipe out the Amazon rainforest?
Is it scalable?
If the answer to both is \'Yes\' - then what are we waiting for? We can eliminate so much waste and solve much of the energy problem at the same time!

I am all for alternative solutions but it seems like there is a number of offerings yet none get to market. And with the demise of so many daily newspapers I am not sure if this source is sustainable. I vote for algae fuel.

If you believe the green fascists propaganda about AGW the land fill is exactly where newspapers should end up. It is called carbon sequestering.

This could presumably use other sources of cellulose, like crop residue, or grass clippings...

ermm.... again...... how exactly is this going to boil down to \" cheaper fuel\" for us mere mortals here at \"grass-roots\" level... I thought so yes!
all I can see is the oil overlords now just have another way to up the profit margin even that much more...

Very Good innovation. Does it mean Cellulose rich plants can also be used for fuel. Already Agave is used as Biofuel in Mexico.

\"This could presumably use other sources of cellulose, like crop residue, or grass clippings...\"

My first thought was of a lawn mower that sucks up the grass clippings and converts them into fuel for the mower. :-)

\"If you believe the green fascists propaganda about AGW\". @Slowburn, you really are a Corporate Tool, aren\'t you?

Gee, another cheap, efficient, less polluting alternative to putting petrol in my car. That must make almost 100 alternatives I\'ve read about in the last 3 years. How come I can still only buy petrol? Does it fall into the same category as car companies saying they have to charge more for electric vehicles or hybrids to cover development costs when we know they price cars as they want to, regularly offsetting a minimal profit on one vehicle to be made up by higher margins on other models. A couple of hundred dollars extra on the price of every petrol vehicle would surely allow hybrids and electric vehicles to be sold more cheaply than conventional models. But just like the story for alternative fuels, the oil companies don\'t want it so we don\'t get it.

This has all the same problems as making ethanol.
It is a good thing to reuse celluose that can\'t be remade into paper/packaging etc.
But I doubt there would be enough to satisfy demand for fuel.

It is a good example though how bacteria could be useful in ways not thought of.

I liked the bacteria that turns sand into stone.