Termites could power vehicles in the future
Story By: Bea Karnes
Source: NBC
Published Tue Aug 12, 2008, 09:30 AM MDT
Updated Tue Aug 12, 2008, 09:30 AM MDT
We know termites have the power to destroy our homes but did you know they may also have the power to power our cars?
Termites, these unwanted house guests, may one day play role in gassing up your car.
Falk Warnecke of the U.S. Energy Department's Joint Genome Institute said, "The termites are very efficient for degrading material."
The pests are so good at breaking down wood, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek want to mimic that process to produce liquid bio fuels. So they're collecting powerful enzymes from inside the bellies of termites.
Falk Warnecke says "Scientist Falk Warnecke says: "We try to discover these enzymes and then other people with other skills will take over and try to commercialize them, develop them."
The process is quite simple. The enzymes break down the plant material into sugar just like in any other digestion process. Then, in the same way they produce ethanol from cornstarch, scientists can ferment the sugar into alcohol, which essentially is the liquid biofuel.
The best part, it can be used to power your car. Warnecke said, "For cars...as long as we don't have better batteries, we need some way of storing energy and these liquid biofuels have a high energy content and is easy to store."
But finding the right enzymes, according to Warnecke, is the hardest part, "It would be enough to have one sequence, one gene which is maybe the golden solution and then you can take this one gene and copy it in a molecular biology lab like this."
And considering today's high gas prices, when scientists finally find the enzymes, these liquid biofuels will be like liquid gold for drivers. Turning pests into a payoff at the pump.
While Warnecke says liquid biofuels will make great fuel for cars, he doesn't think this biofuel will be efficient enough to heat houses.
So he says he supports continuing to explore other energy options.
