海角大神

I鈥檝e been working with new energy inventions and their creators for almost 15 years now.聽 I don鈥檛 know how many times I鈥檝e heard a new technology described as 鈥渢he Holy Grail鈥�:聽 solving all of the world鈥檚 problems forever.

Well, here鈥檚 the newest one using the Holy Grail cliche:聽 a supposedly聽carbon-neutral聽method of using microbes to convert electricity into natural gas.

Thanks to an聽article聽written by Brita Belli of聽Ecomagination聽at聽GE (NYSE: GE), I was pointed to the聽recently-reported work of a聽team of researchers聽led by聽Alfred Spormann聽at聽Stanford University聽and聽Bruce Logan聽of聽Penn State University.聽 These researchers聽have聽determined that聽an organism called聽Methanobacterium palustre, when submerged in water on an electrically-charged聽cathode,聽will produce methane (i.e., natural gas, CH4) 鈥� supposedly at an 80% efficiency rate.

The carbon-neutrality of this approach stems from (1) using聽surplus electricity generation from non-emitting聽wind or solar and (2) the microbe extracts the carbon atom for the聽methane from the CO2 in the atmosphere.

So, in theory, one can make an infinite supply of a聽relatively clean聽fossil-fuel from renewable electricity by sucking carbon out of the air.聽 And, given the extensive natural gas pipeline, storage and distribution network, this fuel could be聽used for聽baseload聽power generation,聽traditional space/water heating and cooking purposes, and even transportation (e.g.,聽natural gas vehicles).

The catch:聽 as is often the case with early discoveries in university labs,聽the researchers don鈥檛 know how to scale the technology聽and achieve consistent/stable results at commercially-useful levels.聽 The economics are also highly uncertain.

Don鈥檛 hold your breath.聽 This type of invention could take a very very long time to聽turn into聽something that鈥檚 viable for the energy marketplace.聽 As a long-time executive from one of the聽supermajors聽once said to me, it takes 12-24 months to really prove something at the next order of magnitude 鈥� and in energy, it鈥檚 usually several orders of magnitudes of expansion from the laboratory to the field.聽 Thus, what seems like an overnight success story usually has a decade or more of development behind it.

So, while this discovery might turn out to be the Holy Grail 鈥� and it definitely seems worth monitoring 鈥� one should not get too excited just yet.聽 There are a lot of potential hurdles to be overcome, and some of them may not be surmounted.聽 Even if the technology develops favorably, it鈥檚 a long way from being聽ready for prime-time.

In the meantime,聽this is the only Holy Grail to which I will pay attention.