Algae The Greener Fuel

Algae Could Be The Next Cleaner, Greener Fuel

Don Shelby (WCCO) A new report this week says greenhouse gas emissions could double in the next 30 years. Not from buses and cars, but from ethanol made out of corn.

Scientists said turning forests into fields to grow fuel creates way more carbon dioxide than it saves, but with shrinking oil reserves and rising gas prices the search for a cleaner, greener fuel for transportation is critical.

However, the biofuel most likely to replace petroleum comes from the most unlikely place. In the laboratory of Dr. Roger Ruan over at the University of Minnesota, he is helping discover the fuel of the future.

The green stuff in his lab isn't just any old pond scum -- its hundreds of species of algae -- the next cleaner, greener alternative to petroleum.