“ … by the early 1980s, the enzymes used in laundry detergents to treat stains had been engineered to work at cold-water wash temperatures by companies such as Genencor, Inc., resulting in the potential reduction of hot water heating bills amounting to 100,000 barrels of oil per day, nationwide. Stated differently, the “energy impact” of a single engineered protein integrated upstream into our daily lives via a laundry detergent is greater than the current oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and is roughly equivalent to the volume of biofuel that could be produced using 1/2000th of our crop land.
Drew Endy, at the Committee on Energy and Commerce, 27th May, 2010.
