A Florida company thinks it has come up with the cheap super-fuel of the future – algae. Algenol believe that they can turn blue-green algae, which can convert CO2 into sugars 50 times faster than normal plants, into ethanol at a cost of 22p a litre. Unlike some crackpot bio-fuel schemes, algae farming wouldn’t compete for food resources, wouldn’t mean sacrificing virgin forest for palm oil plantations and leaves fresh water behind as a by-product.

Cheap fuel made from carbon dioxide, salt water and sunshine. And yet they still keep subsidising windmills…