Joule Unlimited's Helioculture technology directly transforms waste CO2 and sunlight into ethanol and diesel fuels.  No need for biomass feedstocks, agricultural land, or fresh water.  Nor energy-intensive biomass transformative processes.  Just some really high-tech microorganisms.

Sounds a bit sci-fi.  But the reality is here.  Well more accurately, in Leander, Texas where Joule has built its pilot plant.

Joule Unlimited has engineered synthetic microorganisms that when charged from the sunlight, will consume waste CO2 and continuously produce and secrete hydrocarbon fuels.

Joule's revolutionary technology will reach the first phases of commercial development in 2012, and aims to produce up to 15,000 gallons of diesel and 25,000 gallons of ethanol per acre annually at costs as low as $20/bble and $0.60/gallon respectively.

Joule has received a lot of recognition in the past couple months - listed in Fast Company's 10 Most Innovative Companies in Energy, the Tech Review's World's 50 Most Innovative Companies, Always On Going Green Global's World's Top 200 Private Green Tech Companies, and most recently, being named a World Economic Forum 2012 Technology Pioneer.  These are just to name a few.

We're talking about a solution that provides energy independence -- that is simple, scalable, competitive and clean (by consuming CO2).

How can you not be excited about this mind-blowing technology?

Definitely a precious ... joule.