The hero of this story is a one of a kind microbe called Methanobacterium palustre. This microbe discovered recently has the unique ability to synthesize methane from electric current. You might wonder that the reverse would have better for an energy starved world. After all, isn’t methane a greenhouse gas.

But look at it this way - alternative energy sources like solar and wind have long struggled with feasible ways to store the energy they generate during the day for use at night. And they are notoriously fickle with continuous supply. Nature dependent it is difficult to regulate peaks and troughs of actual demand. It is called load balancing. The discovery of this microbe opens up the possibility. Current generated can be stored as fuel in the form of methane. That is, store it when supply is high and demand is low…release it when the demand goes up.

The microbe uses electrons in combination with hydrogen to generate methane. The efficiency rate of its production is at a high of 80%. Methane is the main constituent of natural gas and already distribution systems exist in the form of pipelines and storage tanks. So use and distribution of methane should not be a logistical problem.

But skeptics are more worried about the greenhouse impact of methane. Does it defeat the purpose of using greenhouse reducing alternative energy in the first place?

Using methane may not be the final solution. But if the trade off is examined between using methane as an energy source and utilizing traditional forms like coal and fuels, then methane wins out. Per unit it is a cleaner burning fuel (i.e. it produces less CO2) than other hydrocarbons. A significant cost gets added and some amount is lost when excess solar and wind energy is stored in batteries for later use. The use of microbes negates this and gives a low cost option for efficient transfer of energy.

The potential has been discovered. The possibilities have been examined. More research might one day lead to the development of a practicable real world solution. That day, alternative energy would have furthered a step to provide us with clean cheap energy.