Take water, carbon dioxide q.s.

and a handful of microbes.
We put everything in a large bioreactor as a cup, and give a nice electric shock.
After a few weeks of preparation we will have a protein powder nutritional profile coincides with that of a staple food for humans and animals (one of those that give a complete nutritional intake for mix of protein, carbohydrates and fats).
Call it food still sounds a bit 'strange, but this is precisely the intention of the researchers of the Lappeenranta University of Technology (Lut) and Vtt Technical Research Center (Finland), which thanks to electricity alone have combined three simple ingredients to getting what all intents and purposes is a complete food.
The announcement was made by Lut same through a press release in which the authors of Juha-Pekka Pitknen and Jero Ahola research explain the objectives of the Electricity Food from the study, which thanks to the Academy of Finland funds reached this first result.
The mixture produced, Pitknen says, "it is very nutritious.
It is composed for more than 50% from proteins, 25% carbohydrates and the rest is represented by fats and nucleic acids "and with the development of technology will form the basis for the production of food for both human and animal nutrition.
The authors of this study think big and look away.
The research actually is part of a larger project - called Neo-Carbon Energy - which aims to develop a food production system powered by renewable energy and emission-free.
"Compared to traditional agriculture, our method of production, which is currently under development, it does not require stringent conditions" Ahola explains "the process is fully automated."
There is therefore no need to consume soil, nor wait for the right environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, etc.
No pesticides and limited water consumption.
The bioreactor to combine the ingredients could be placed anywhere, even in desert areas or in the most affected areas of the world by drought and famine.
This will be a source of renewable energy to produce enough electricity to process.
At present, however, the technology is still in early development stage: it takes two weeks to produce one gram of protein powder.
The authors themselves say that maybe it will take more than a decade because the method to become competitive: we must improve the tools, energy efficiency, which will be 10 times greater.
For now concrete efforts will focus on 'starting a pilot production to obtain sufficient quantities of product for testing feeds and other food products, to be followed by an initial marketing.

From Wired