The article "Using Extremophiles To Generate Hydrogen for Electricity," makes a strong case for the benefits of engineering synthetic enzyme pathways using (and modifying) enzymes that can be found in extremophiles. The author begins with a bulleted, four-point introduction to set up the body of the article. He states that transportation accounts for roughly 20% of global energy use and defines cell-free synthetic enzymatic pathway biotransformation (SyPaB) as a hydrogen producer that involves a carefully constructed set of enzymes that operate independently of living cells. These pathways efficiently yield 12 molecules of Hydrogen per molecule of glucose (or equivalent polysaccharide), and the author hints that this could be the key to future transportation systems. The potential benefits of such pathways are enormous in scope. As every developed nation currently faces the daunting task of reducing its dependence upon fossil fuels, doing so improves air quality and economic health, mitigates the major contributing factor in global warming, and strengthens national security in the process. .
The author continues by briefly listing other potential liquid fuel sources produced by renewable sources, including ethanol from cellulose and algal diesel. Problems with these sources include the relatively low conversion energy of engines that could run on them as well as the limited supply of the requisite biomass for generating them. Another potential alternative renewable energy source, electric batteries and hydrogen, involve several key problems in that they are expensive to produce and present safety concerns associated with their storage (in addition batteries yield very low energy density). .
With these issues in mind, the author proposes his recommended solution, "Specifically using renewable carbohydrates as a primary energy source for hydrogen production, which in turn would be converted to electricity"" (p.
