Concern over global warming and rising gas prices has just about everyone, including presidential candidates, touting biofuels. Taking the energy from plants and making a gasoline alternative to run our cars has great promise but there are huge problems to solve. The next answer may not come from Saudi Arabia but from a UC Berkeley lab, a Silicon Valley start up or a local researcher working in the jungles of Costa Rica.
For years there's been buzz – both positive and negative – about generating ethanol fuel from corn. But thanks to recent developments, the Bay Area is rapidly becoming a world center for the next generation of green fuel alternatives. Meet the scientists investigating the newest methods for converting what we grow into what makes us go.
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QUEST is a production of KQED. Major funding is provided by the National Science Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Foundation, and The Amgen Foundation. Additional support is provided by the William K. Bowes, Jr. Foundation, Ann S. Bowers - The Robert Noyce Trust, the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, and the Vadasz Family Foundation.
