Sunlight+CO2=fuel

Startup Joule sought to avoid the mistakes of algae companies and took a completely different approach to making fuel. Seen here is a test bioreactor that grows a genetically engineered microorganism called cyanobacteria which produces a hydrocarbon fuel directly. The microbes, which grow in water, are only fed sunlight, nutrients, and CO2 from a power plant or other source. This idea of directly producing fuel from plants, without having to collect and process biomass into fuel, is an area pursued by the ARPA-E agency for breakthrough energy research.