In 1998, the ordinarily placid world of biology and genetics was torn apart when a gauntlet was thrown down.

In 1990, a genial project was announced by James Watson, the co-discovered of DNA and head of the National Centre for Human Genome Research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States.  The purpose would be, over a period of 15 years, to extract the complete genome of human beings.

It was a big project and received support and finding from big governments.  As with all such projects, it would be difficult to measure exactly how rapidly such a project could be run and at what cost. 

In 1998, Craig Venter, and his firm Celera Genomics declared that they would produce the genome in a fraction of the time of the public effort, and for a fraction of the cost; for $300 million versus the  $3 billion for the publicly funded project.  Pandemonium ensued.

In 2002, the genome was completed, ahead of time and under budget.

Now Venter is attempting to perform the same trick on the crimson world of alternative energy.  "The real challenge to creating a viable next generation biofuel is the ability to produce it in large volumes, which will require significant advances in both science and engineering,” he says.

So doing, he announced that he is patenting a series of innovations in order to produce a synthetic life form .  The doom-sayers responded immediately.  Pat Mooney, at ETC – an organisation which opposes genetic engineering – said: "For the first time, God has competition. Venter and his colleagues have breached a societal boundary, and the public hasn't even had a chance to debate the far-reaching social, ethical and environmental implications of synthetic life."

What is Venter doing now to cause so much alarm?  His company, Synthetic Genomics Incorporated (SGI), will develop fuels that can be used by cars or aeroplanes without the need for any modification of their engines.  The fuels are to be produced by synthetic algae.

ExxonMobil – hardly a friend of the environmentally self-aware – has already put $600 million into the project.

ExxonMobil's vice-president of research and development, Dr. Emil Jacobs, had this to say in a news release: "After considerable study, we have determined that the potential advantages and benefits of biofuel from algae could be significant. Among other advantages, readily available sunlight and carbon dioxide used to grow the photosynthetic algae could provide greenhouse gas mitigation benefits. Growing algae does not rely on fresh water and arable land otherwise used for food production. And lastly, algae have the potential to produce large volumes of oils that can be processed in existing refineries to manufacture fuels that are compatible with existing transportation technology and infrastructure."

The only input required is carbon dioxide, one of the major factors in global warming.  In other words, factories that are large CO2 producers would simply connect their outflow pipes to a large algal tank and produce fuel.

The basis for the proteins needed by the synthetic algae come from several years spent by Venter trawling the world’s oceans, collecting bacteria and algae and then analysing them.

Algal fuels are already receiving tremendous interest.  The UK government has invested over $35 million in a research project designed to develop a commercial organism by 2020. 

The current approach sees algae producing oil within their own cells.  The organisms must be “killed” in order to extract the fuel.  Venter’s approach is for algae to simply excrete the fuel which would then be harvested once it floats to the surface of its growth medium.

None of this is going to be easy.  "This would not happen without the oil industry stepping up and taking part," says Venter.  "The challenges are not minor for any of us but we have the combined teams and scientific and engineering talents to give this the best chance of success."

The potential for an alternative fuel which is both environmentally friendly and fits easily into existing technology is an important one.

The potential economic impact is tremendous.  For, once energy loses its link to extractive resources, then much of the world’s competition for energy resources will lose its heat.  And that is good for everyone.