For most of us, escherichia coli (the bacteria commonly known as e. coli) doesn't exactly have the most pleasant connotations, unless, for some strange reason, you really love to follow a meal out with a trip to the emergency room.

But this dreaded bacteria may be in for an image makeover soon, thanks to the work of Thomas Wood, a chemical engineering professor at Texas A&M University. Wood has spent years studying the bacteria – and, by genetically modifying a strain of e. coli, he has discovered a way to make it produce 140 times more hydrogen than it would under ordinary circumstances.

So what does that mean? Well, thanks to Wood's innovative new strain, you may one day be able to combine e. coli with glucose (i.e., sugar) to convert the bacteria into enough hydrogen to power your house.

"The size of the reactor that we'd need today if we implemented this technology would be less than the size of a 250-gallon fuel tank found in the typical east-coast home. I'm not finished with this yet, but at this point if we implemented the technology right now, you or a machine would have to shovel in about the weight of a man every day so that the reactor could provide enough hydrogen to take care of the average American home for a 24-hour period," Wood said in a press release.

"We're trying to make bacteria so it doesn't require 80 kilograms; it will be closer to 8 kilograms."

As far as green, energy-efficient technology goes, Wood's development seems incredibly promising. We may never be so crazy about the thought of e. coli in our cheeseburgers – but we'd be happy to let it heat our houses.