I find this to be very cool.

Crumb Trail has an entry entitled Industrial Glucose. It's all about how glucose, which is currently quite costly as a source of energy, can be extracted from cellulose, or the bulk building material of all plants(I think this is right). The idea is that instead of only using the fruit or seed of a plant for acquiring glucose(mostly from corn), any plant could be rendered down in its entirety. Thus production of an alternative fuel(such as ethanol) could become much more energy efficient.

Combined with this and this, it's possible to see a new energy future, where plant material is directly converted into usable power for us all.