Scientific research is often conducted in an expensive laboratory with high-tech equipment, but a 17-year-old high school senior, Sara Volz, has been conducting scientific experiments in her room.  Working under her loft bed, Volz has been attempting to solve the energy crisis and reduce dependence on fossil fuels by creating a new strain of algae.

Algae fuel production has long been touted as the next step in reducing dependence on fossil fuels. Large oil companies have pumped money into research and development, hoping to be the first to provide cheap reliable algae energy. So far they’ve been unsuccessful and Rex Tillerson, chief executive of ExxonMobil Corp, said he believes that it will be at least 25 years before algae biofuel becomes feasible on a large scale, which according to XKCD means it won’t happen:

The primary problem with algae fuel production is that no strain of algae repeatedly produces enough oil to make the process financially viable. Volz is tackling this problem by producing high-yield strains of algae with artificial selection. She kills off algae with low levels of acetyle-CoA carboxylase, an enzyme vital to lipid synthesis. The remaining strains of algae have significantly increased lipid production, moving algae biofuel into the realm of reality. Unfortunately, other problems, beyond oil yield, exist with bringing algae biofuel to the mass market. Fossil fuels are still the most abundant source of cheap energy, but with this breakthrough, algae biofuel is beginning to become more economically feasible. Algae biofuel is particularly appealing because it can fuel diesel engines, meaning that gas infrastructure and car engines wouldn’t have to change for it to be implemented on a large scale. Volz won the 2013 National Intel Science Talent Search, and received a $100,000 scholarship. Way to make me feel terrible Volz. I’ve done nothing with my life. Algae biofuel: future or fantasy?