Haven't you heard about the global warming? Didn't you know that the earth is experiencing changes in its global climate due to the huge emissions of carbon oxydes to the atmosphere for decades? Of course you have noticed. One of the solutions spinning at the table-top nowadays is the commercial and industrial use of biofuels.

As the biofuels come from simpler and lighter carbon sources - mainly organic - they are more easily degraded and recycled. Also, they produce less carbon monoxyde (the invisible killer gas), sulphurs and other toxic materials as a subproduct of combustion. The advantages of using biofuels are enormous. But, the main disadvantage is that they are still very expensive to produce at an industrial scale. That's why the biodiesel keeps being a non-economically viable solution to the fuel question. But, recent studies into the field of applied biotechnology shows that there are strong chances to improve this situation. In fact, researchers have conducted studies to include some genes capable of producing enzymes that can utilize the lignocellulose material of the plants to produce bioethanol. The process is simple and it's very well known as fermentation.
The issue is to obtain a strain of bacteria (Escherichia coli, so popular in microbiology as Paris Hilton on the Internet) that is capable of reproducing itself at a fast, constant pace and also with the ability to produce huge quantities of ethanol via fermentation of vegetable stock. Biotechnology is the clue. And it seems to be the future trend of human technology. We hope so, as the planet can't stand more gas emissions from the smart bipeds.