It's green, it's slimy and it smells. It also abundantly produces lipids, sugars and sometimes hydrogen gas, all of which are sought-after sources for renewable energy. You may think of it as mere pond scum, but algae could be a highly productive biofuel crop in the near future.

"Right now the cost of production still exceeds the value of the final product," said Joel Cuello, professor in the department of agricultural and biosystems engineering. "So the challenge research-wise is trying to lower the production cost while increasing algae productivity."

Kimberly Ogden of the department of chemical and environmental engineering has a lab full of algae-filled flasks: "We grow the algae and then separate the lipid material that can be turned into fuel from the rest of the algae, which is mostly protein."