Just a few hours ago, the world’s first pair of cars to run on algae biodiesel were announced at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. The cars were prominently displayed outside the world premier of Fields of Fuel, Josh Tickell’s stunning new documentary on biodiesel and the state of a world dependent on petroleum.

Burning a B20 blend of algal biodiesel, these vehicles are the first to make use of a potentially revolutionary way to grow algae for biodiesel production. Solazyme, a synthetic biology company out of San Francisco, has developed a way to grow algae that essentially hijacks the photosynthetic process to optimize oil production. Like any good photosynthetic organism, algae convert the sun’s energy into sugars, which then power the oil-producing process (algae can be over 50% oil). But getting the algae enough sunlight to grow efficiently has been a particular stumbling block to large scale algae production.

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