A landmark 2009 study, conducted by researchers at Iowa State's Center for Agricultural and Rural Development, and updated this week for impacts through 2011, found that US ethanol production reduced wholesale gasoline prices by an average of $1.09 per gallon, in 2011.

Five years ago, algae was the “it” feedstock in the biofuel realm. The idea of taking an organism that feeds off of CO2 and using it to create fuel was as intoxicating to research scientists as it was to venture capitalists. Financing was available to fund the placement of extremely expensive photobioreactors next to power plants. Decades-old research from the National Renewable Energy Lab proved that some strains of algae could effectively be used to create high-grade fuels. Startup CEOs talked of being able to produce algae-based biofuels cheaply and at a large scale within the three to five years.

LOS ANGELES -- Fuel may be a messy business now, as the oil spill fouling the Gulf reminds us.

But it might not always have to be. Scientists envision facilities that churn out black gold by enlisting engineered bacteria, yeast and algae to do all the dirty work.