Jonathan Trent: Energy from floating algae pods

Jonathan Trent is a scientist and a biofuel guru. Not only does Trent grow algae for biofuel, he wants to do so by cleansing wastewater and trapping carbon dioxide in the process. And it's all solar-powered.

Trent works at NASA's nanotechnology department, where he builds microscopic devices out of proteins from extremophiles--bacteria that live in the world's harshest environments. It isn't the logical place to start a biofuel project. But in 2008, after watching enzymes chomp through plant cells, Trent started thinking about biofuels. And because he has a background in marine biology, he started thinking about algae and the oceans.

Thus was born OMEGA, or the Offshore Membrane Enclosure for Growing Algae. This technology aims at reusing the wastewater of coastal cities that is currently piped out and disposed into the seas. Fuelled by the sun and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the algae eat the waste and produce oils that can be converted to fuel. Unlike growing corn for ethanol, OMEGA doesn't threaten the world's food supply.