many alternative fuels that may help slow down global warming suffer from technical barriers. hydrogen and methane gas (also called ‘natural gas’) are both more environmentally friendly than gasoline, but contain very little energy per unit of volume. this video shows how self-assembled porous materials can lead to fuel tanks that are able to highly concentrate gaseous fuels and thus hold a lot of energy in a small space. cutting edge algorithms and materials are depicted, drawing from research and development in the previous two years at northwestern university in the snurr and hupp laboratories. commercialization of this technology is being carried out by a new startup company: numat technologies.