Recently, a team of researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have successfully harvested alternative jet fuel from commonly found soil bacteria species belonging to the genus streptomyces.
In 1999, American Petroleum Institute (APA) published a report that suggests that the Earth’s oil reserves could dry anytime between 2062 and 2094. In contrast, a 2019 study from Stanford University’s Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere (MAHB) predicts that the world will run out of oil much sooner i.e. in 2054. Imagine a world in which planes don’t fly, jets don’t protect the national borders, goods don’t get shipped, and rockets cannot leave Earth because there is no oil.
Since the global aviation, shipping, and aerospace industries run on oil, its depletion could lead to worldwide chaos. Forget depletion; the oil shortage is already causing an unprecedented increase in fuel prices across the globe. Recently, gas prices in the various states of the US crossed the mark of $5 a gallon, a new all-time high.
This is why many industries and scientists are constantly looking forrenewable energy sources that could serve as alternatives to fossil fuels, especially oil (as it is likely to end foremost). An important step taken in this direction is the bacteria-driven production of renewable jet fuel by scientists at the Lawrence lab.
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