| 11 weeks 1 day 9 hours ago Could fungus lower gas prices?
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(NECN/KOAT: Albuquerque, N.M.) - A long-time nuisance fungus could become a prime-time player in an effort to bring down gas prices - and lower food prices at the same time.
The fungus is being studied in a New Mexico lab, as a way to generate ethanol more cheaply. And while it's not the most appetizing thing to contemplate, it could lead to fuel that takes a smaller bite out of your wallet, as Matt Grubs of KOAT-TV in Albuquerque reports.
Here's his script:
Diego Martinez has designs on a very historic fungus.
It's called Trichoderma reesei - which you can go ahead and forget now - but
know that it's been getting attention since World War II.
Diego Martinez: "It was eating holes in tents and canvas material such as uniforms and stuff like that."
This is the fungus - touched up a bit for its close up. The goal of the research Diego did with a bunch of other scientists at Los
Alamos National Lab and a few other places is pretty simple.
"Engineer the organism to produce enzymes cheaper."
Those enzymes help make ethanol - which is in much of the gas we pump
everyday.
What they do that's so unique is go after cellulose as opposed to starch and
they do it rather efficiently. That means - as Diego patiently explains - you could make ethanol out of a corn stalk as opposed to a corn cob, and you could potentially make it cheaper.
Matt Grubs, KOAT: "Diego says that while he was researching
the history of this little fungus, he found something interesting. And that is that people started paying a whole lot of attention to it thirty years ago during the energy crisis of the 1970s."
They just couldn't figure out a way to do it cheaply. Diego's work could change that.
Martinez: "It couldn't have come fast enough in order to get this information out to the public."
In a time when gas prices and food prices are racing toward who knows where,
a very historic fungus could make a very timely comeback.
In Albuquerque Matt Grubs KOAT Action 7 News.
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