Sometimes I run across something that I have to read two or three times, making sure of the source, just to reassure myself that I’m reading something about the real world that I live in. Today it’s an almost magical algae that eats carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide and produces biodiesel and ethanol. And if you weren’t already sold, it turns out it’s cost-effective as well.

I remember hearing something about this sort of thing a few years ago as a gleam in some researcher’s eye. But the only benefit mentioned then was that it was a good way of absorbing carbon dioxide from smokestacks, and that was about all. Now it seems to have exceeded the “cool” barrier and gone all the way to “magic”.

I’ve lived long enough to witness the difference between the mirage on the horizon and the reality upon arrival to be suspicious of something that seems to hold this much promise. But this one looks legit.

Of course, there are better sources of energy than coal-burning power plants, and no matter how amazing this algae is, it ends up just being a band-aid on what is, in the end, a type of power generation that ought not to have a future. But in the meantime, I can’t wait to hear more about this algae in action.