While I applaud Wood’s success in bioengineering E. coli to produce hydrogen, I certainly wouldn’t describe his team’s discovery as the “future” of fuel. As described, the bacteria could produce one kW of power (not one kWh, which would equate to ~15 minutes of air conditioning) for an operating cost of $6,000, which I assume means yearly. This is more than three times the current cost of electricity – even in more expensive areas! Second, homes may average one kW of power draw, but you couldn’t run air conditioning with this power supply since most require at least three kW. Third, the sad truth is that bacteria die. It seems that the continual replenishment of bioengineered bacteria has also been overlooked. And though other questions also need to be raised, I’ll finish with this: Where does the continual supply of sugar come from? Certainly not from cane sugar (which is more expensive than oil per lb), but perhaps decaying biomatter? Even if the bacteria can process biomatter into glucose, more efficient processes have already been proven to produce ethanol from such byproducts which don’t require gene splicing. Wood has certainly achieved a marvelous feat, but let’s not forget practicality.
David HuitinkGraduate student