As waste-derived energy becomes increasingly feasible, a number of companies take up the green challenge, getting ready to produce commercial grade clean-burning biofuel made from wood chips, garbage and crop waste.

Waste-to-energy ideas date back to the father of the modern internal combustion engine, Henry Ford himself, as he contemplated refining various byproducts at times when fuel was in short supply. According to the New York Times, today at least 28 waste cycling factories are already operational or under constriction, with many more waiting in the wings. Even global energy and automotive giants like Honeywell, Dupont, GM, Shell and BP are looking to capitalize on the potential biofuel boom.

Still, given the prevailing economic uncertainty, the once abundant start-up capital is drying up, forcing biofuel ventures, large and small, to seek help from the government. "We desperately need it, and I personally think it's not there yet," said Steven Chu, director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a Nobel Prize-winning physicist. "You have to look at starts with a grain of salt, especially starts where they say, 'It's around the corner, and by the way, can you pay half the bill?' "