Synthetic biologists hope to develop new bio-based fuels, which might free us from oil, coal and gas without fundamentally changing our existing energy infrastructure. To do this, scientists are working on creating microbes that can transform plant material into usable fuel. Edible crops won’t be used. Instead, the starting material will be non-edible parts of existing crops, or other plants altogether. But is there enough land to grow them? Read more about the developments here.