Cool Energy sources

So, this guy in the states, Dr. J. Craig Venter may be on track to developing a completely renewable energy source. And not only renewable but plentiful. Basically, he wants to develop a type of yeast, that when it ferments with food byproducts creates hydrogen.
He also wants to genetically engineer corn. Since he knows he may not be able to create the hydrogen producing bacteria he is also thinking about ethanol gasoline. Currently there is not enough Land in North America to produce the ethanol we would need to run our cars. That's why he is trying to genetically engineer a type of corn that produces dramatically more ethanol per stalk than current corn.
While these inventions would be awesome for his company and likely make him one of the wealthiest men alive, it would seriously fuck up the Canadian Economy. But, it would mean cleaner air for all of us to breathe. So, I guess we'll just wait and see what happens.

http://www.syntheticgenomics.com/

Fortunately, there is something standing in his way. Hydrogen is pretty useless as a fuel right now. Fuel Cells can only get about a 200km range on hundreds of litres of fuel, and they produce about as much horsepower as, well, a horse.
However, the Saint-Hilaire family from Quebec that has developed a new type of engine that may be able to run on both petrol AND liquid hydrogen. It's called the Quasiturbine engine. Even if it can't burn Hydrogen, it so efficiently uses the energy in petrol that a 900cc motor could easily produce 300hp and give a mid-sized car about 150 miles per gallon. There are still some issues to be worked out with lubrication, but if they can get this motor to work it will change the way cars run forever, as well as cleaning up the air and extending the life of the worlds petroleum resources.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/quasiturbine.htm