In what could be a major breakthrough, Joule Biotechnologies announced that it has directly produced fuel from the plentiful carbon dioxide in the air around us using highly engineered photosynthetic microbes.

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Cambridge-based Joule Biotechnologies has come out of the dark today to announce a radical technology designed to mimic photosynthesis using bio-engineered micro-organisms to make ethanol fuel from carbon dioxide and sunlight.

Because of the abundance of these raw materials, Joule Biotechnologies should be able to make ethanol economically, sustainably and at stable prices.

Prices would be competitive with fossil fuels at $50 a barrel.

By using materials with an unlimited supply, it solves most of the sustainability issues associated with making ethanol with corn, switch grass, or other plant materials. Joule’s system does not require raw materials in short supply like fresh water and agricultural land like traditional biofuel production. Quite the opposite.

An ideal “farm” might be a coal-powered electricity plant in Texas that’s belching out carbon dioxide in the sunshine.

Each acre can produce more than 20,000 gallons of ethanol or hydrocarbons annually; far more than recent algae estimates, which Sims says come in around 2,000 gallons. It can make transportation fuels at $50 per barrel or less; rivaling current gas prices, but without the pollution or greenhouse gases of fossil fuel.

Here’s how it works:
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