The Last Ditch by Tom Paine

Link: The Poor Mouth: Oily Grail Part II – Bacteria that “shit” petrol..

Thanks to Jams for drawing my attention to this story. Maybe it won’t be this particular technology (though it sounds promising) but I am confident that some technology or other will eventually prove to be the answer to our energy problems. The idea of a bacterium that eats waste and excretes crude oil is just wonderful, isn’t it? The only thing that could delight me more would be a bacterium which ate Al Gore with the same result. As it seems to be a modification of E. Coli, that’s actually not far from being possible. More humanely, it could live in his gut and he could excrete crude oil, which would allow him to make his first positive contribution to the welfare of mankind.

Either way, if it proves to be commercially viable, how much would you love to be the person who explains to the oil sheiks that their days of wine and roses are over and that it’s time to reacquaint themselves with traditional skills?