Narrator: This is Science Today. Scientists and legislators alike are looking into using other energy sources for fuel to fill our gas tanks, particularly the production of ethanol – either from corn or from woody, fibrous plants, which is known as cellulosic technology. Dan Kammen of the University of California , Berkeley 's Energy and Resources Group says if the supply is there, it wouldn't cost much to switch cars to run on ethanol blends.

Kammen: It's about a hundred bucks to convert a truck to being flex fuel ready. You have to put better hoses in, a different gas cap – it's really very simple.

Narrator: In fact, Kammen says the state of California currently has more flex-fuel vehicles on the road – that is, vehicles than can burn ethanol or gasoline or blends – than diesel cars.

Kammen: That's because a large fraction of the light duty pick up trucks that you see – Ford F150s for example, they're already flex fuel and they're flex fuel because auto manufacturers need to meet U.S. air quality vehicle mileage standards, so called CAFE standards, and to do that, they made flex fuel vehicles because it's cheap.

Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.