Slashdot | Echeria Coli Co-Opted To Make Gasoline
“Technology Review has an article about a small biotech company in the Silicon Valley that has successfully produced renewable gasoline from genetically modified bacteria, including the nefarious E.Coli bacteria. A pilot plant is slated to be constructed in California in 2008, and it is claimed that hundreds of different hydrocarbon molecules are capable of being produced. The modified bacteria make and excrete hydrocarbon molecules that are the length and molecular structure the company desires. From the article: ‘To do this, the company is employing tools from the field of synthetic biology to modify the genetic pathways that bacteria, plants, and animals use to make fatty acids, one of the main ways that organisms store energy. Fatty acids are chains of carbon and hydrogen atoms strung together in a particular arrangement, with a carboxylic acid group made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen attached at one end. Take away the acid, and you’re left with a hydrocarbon that can be made into fuel.’”

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Wow…being able to grow gasoline in a petri dish!!!  What will they think of next?  Perhaps they can also grow meat?  I wonder if PETA would go for that?

Man Makes Woman Fill His SUV With Gas - Oddities - RedOrbit
SALT LAKE CITY - A woman was held up during a fill-up. The woman was pumping gasoline Sunday morning when a man stuck something in her back, told her it was a gun and ordered her to start filling up his sport utility vehicle instead of her own car, said Salt Lake City police Detective Jared Wihongi.

“This is definitely not common,” Wihongi said Monday.

The woman put $15 worth in the other vehicle’s tank before her debit card reached its limit.

Wihongi said surveillance video at the station showed two men in a large, white sport utility vehicle with Wyoming license plates. They could face aggravated robbery charges.

The woman was so shaken up by the incident she didn’t call police until about three hours later.

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This takes the cake.  What’s next, forcing someone to pay for your carwash?

The reason gas prices in the United States are so high are because of the following factors:

• There are so many different blends of gasoline that refineries can’t make enough of the gas to meet the supply
• No refineries have been built in the last 20 years (no one wants them in their backyard and they are very expenseive to make - upwards of 1 billion each).
• Taxes on Gas are about 45 cents of the price.
• Oil reserves off the coast of California, Oregon and in Alaska will not be drilled because of the environementalists concerns of another Exxon Valdez

Solutions:

• Create 3 blends of gasoline, nationwide so refineries don’t have to keep retooling (coming offline) to change from/to all the different blends
• Give incentives to build more Refineries (yes I know its unpopular but we all know more competition drives prices down)
• Remove all Gas Taxes - Gas Taxes primiarily hurt the poor since they are the most affected by smaller changes (i.e. someone who has to drive 60 miles aday because they can’t afford a house near their job)
• Allow oil companies to drill off the coast of California, Oregon and in the Alaska preserve eventhough we may not see results for 3-4 years

While we do all of the above, still encourage conservation, increase mpg requirements for vehicles, and encourage alternative fuels like Ethanol, Biodisel and solar.