Well if you followed the Mad Max series you would know in Beyond Thunderdome they manufactured pig feces for ethanol. I guess that could become a reality.

A microbe has been found that can break down anything that contains cellulose and turn it into ethanol.

In 1996, Thomas Warnick was exploring the Quabbin Reservoir in Belchertown, Massachusetts, when he came across a tiny microbe with a big name—Clostridium phytofermentans. Warnick, a microbiology research assistant at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, was sent to the reservoir to find micro-organisms that could break down plant cellulose. His boss, Susan Leschine, had searched areas as diverse as Brazil, France and Hawaii for these organisms, but she’d never seen anything quite like what Warnick brought back.

The “Q microbe,” as it came to be known, is no ordinary bug. It can ingest—and produce ethanol from—virtually anything that contains cellulose, including human and animal sewage waste. So Qteros, the company Leschine founded to exploit the microbe’s abilities commercially, struck up a partnership with Applied CleanTech (ACT), an Israeli firm that generates alternative energy from wastewater solids. ACT’s sewage-recycling system transforms solids into “recyllose.” It turns out the Q microbe has a sweet tooth for recyllose, converting the cotton-like substance into ethanol for use in automobiles.

Jeff Hausthor, Qteros’ lead researcher, imagines a uniquely local market for this new biofuel. Obviously, waste materials are a burden to farms and municipalities, both financially and ecologically. But by putting the Q microbe to work, small-scale ethanol plants situated around sewage processing plants could become a reality.

source: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/fueling-cars-with-feces.html

FoMoCo announced today that it is planning a £1.5 billion ( $2.3 billion USD ) green investment in its four UK facilities over the next 5 years after securing a £360 million ($549 million USD) Government loan guarantee.

“ Support from UK government is a major step in seeking loan approval from the EIB which will allow Ford to proceed with its UK investment strategy, ” Ford said in a statement.

Ford said that its Dagenham is one of four UK sites covering research, development and manufacture of low-CO2 technology for both cars and commercial vehicles. Ford’s research and development center in Dunton, Essex, is the country’s largest automotive engineering facility, and Ford products are assembled in Dagenham, Southampton and Bridgend.

source: http://www.egmcartech.com/2010/03/18/ford-will-invest-2-5-billion-in-britain-for-green-technology/