It grows in almost any stagnant water whether it's salt, fresh or brackish. It needs only carbon dioxide, sunlight and some kind of waste for it's diet of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. It can grow incredibly fast, reaching maturity in as little as 14 days. It can reach the size of a state. It's found everywhere and can grow anywhere. It just might be the answer to some of the biggest problems the human race faces. It could end Global Warming, turn CO2 into a cash crop, feed our livestock and consume our waste all while producing oxygen. It's potential is being studied by scientists funded by Bill Gates. It has among it's supporters the Silicon Valley billionaire Vinod Khosla, country singer Willie Nelson and the U.S. Department of Defense. "It" is algae.Last year tests conducted at PetroSun Biofuels’ pilot algae farm in Opelika, Ala., showed oil production between 5,000 and 8,000 gallons per acre per year. It has already produced 4.4 million gallons of bio fuel. Sapphire Energy, a start up company from San Diego, California has an "open check" to do the research and development necessary to get algae fuel production on the map. Some of the money is coming courtesy of Microsoft founder Bill Gate' investment firm Cascade, but investors from all over are getting involved. Algae is the fuel of the future, all we have to do is make it large scale and profitable. In this piece I'll go over why I think algae is the ultimate solution and why we should all be pushing this alternative fuel to the front of the line.
*It's feasible*
The shear numbers involved in our fuel consumption are enough to eliminate most alternatives. The U.S. consumes over 18 million barrels of oil a day. That's 756 million gallons a day or 276 billion gallons a year. No small sum, to be sure. For ethanol from standard crops to be viable, it would take huge percentages of our farmland. As of now, ethanol, primarily from corn, is only 2% of our fuel use and consumes roughly 2% of our corn (U.S.), therefore it would take 100% of our presently available corn to reach our fuel needs. This would cause huge rises not only in our corn-related food prices, but also our meat prices since livestock is fed primarily corn.In exchange for these rises in food prices, corn produces about 423 gallons of ethanol per acre per year. Algae on the other hand is estimated to produce 5,000 to 50,000 gallons per acre, per year. That's 7 to 30 times greater than the next best crop, Chinese tallow (699 gallons). That's a far better use of our land.
What that means is; not only does algae not leave a carbon foot print, but it actually consumes so much CO2 that it leaves a negative footprint. Unlike some of the other bio masses, algae is squeezed, not cooked. That means it doesn't need other gases to heat it up like ethanol does.The best part about algae as a fuel is that most of the operations being formed pump CO2 through chambers to grow the algae more effectively. One example is the Vertigro system by Valcent Co. which uses vertical tubes. Since the Co2 is brought in, it makes things like carbon capture even more feasible. In fact, it could even solve one of the biggest problems with carbon capture, the cost. When captured, CO2 could be sold as a cash crop to Algae farms. Coal-burning energy plants may make a comeback.
*It produces bio feed*
By using certain edible varieties of algae for bio-fuel, an added bonus is produced. The remaining biomass left over from the process is an excellent food for livestock, thereby leaving more farmland for other crops.
*It can consume our waste*
One of the biggest problems mankind faces on a daily basis is what to do with all our waste. Algae provides a solution. Human and animal waste is, as everyone knows, an excellent fertilizer. By utilizing those wastes to provide Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium for the algae farms, two birds are killed with one stone.
In short, I have never been as excited about any one thing as the future of algae as a bio-fuel. It produces no sulfur, emits very little carbon and consumes more than it will ever produce. It takes up very little land (relatively speaking) and can consume our wastes while producing oxygen and a livestock feed. Compare that with Petroleum, which is destroying our planet and causing our unnecessary involvement in War-ravaged regions. Even if you don't believe in Global Warming, you still have to admit that all this polluting can't be good for us. How long would you allow me to piss in your well? Until you taste it? Until you see it? We need to learn to live with the Earth and this is a great start. If we can get algae fuel to a comfortable $3 a gallon, we can fix a lot of the world's problems. Who knows, one day we may actually have to burn fossil fuels just to put some CO2 back in the atmosphere. H.C.
4 comments:
You would think a novel idea w/ evidence of being arguably the greatest scientific success ever could overcome the billions of $$$ that various industries, most notably big-oil, throw against it. Unfortunately for us, the amount these industries are spending against alt-fuel is probably far less than the industries themselves anticipated. *Sigh*
-n
Hey Nic,
I think this could be a real boom for the farmers. Picture 1000 acre tracts of green houses with all the profits going to one farm family. Then picture thousands of these spread out across the U.S., each independently owned. The billions of $$ now shared by the few spread out to the many. Unfortunately, that's too open-market to keep an iron grip on by one mega-corporation (which is another reason I love this idea). If I could make one thing happen with the snap of my finger, this would be it. How the hell do we lobby this enough to beat back the oil companies? That's one answer I don't have.
As with anything else, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
I have to echo Nic's sentiments here: given the highly experimental state of the process and the dismal condition of the economy at this point, I'm not so sure too many companies (outside of perhaps some major biotech folks) would be willing to invest the billions necessary for algae fuel. For all the talk of energy efficiency, I haven't seen so much as a finger lifted in support of this process or any others on the drawing board. Experimenting with algae only gives the industry another chance to drag their feet.
Besides that, I imagine that all the work it would take to collect enough algae is enough to scare off most companies. I remember reading that it takes something like 1 liter of water to produce a single gram of functional algae. While there is an abundant amount of water on this planet, I'm not sure if resources are available (funds, technology, manpower) to sufficiently produce what is needed to sustain our energy consumption. I dunno.
Still, this is about as good of an idea as any so far. I'm interested to see where this goes.
Hip Con, as usual I think you did a brilliant job of showcasing your diverse knowledge field. Nice post, brother.
Hey Dre,
Thanks, I know a little about everything and a lot about nothing. I would consider the DOD and Bill Gates to be pretty major investors and judging from the scale of some of the projects, it looks like moneys not an issue. I don't know where you got the 1 litre water = 1 gram of algae, if you tour some of the sites that I gave they say they run about 50% algae mass ratio to water (with the tubes, some even have lights inside the tubes). However water is not a problem at all, you can use recycled water of any sorts as well as salt water. That's the great thing about algae, the worse the water the better it likes it. I'll keep everyone posted on how this is going, my only fear is those that want desperately to kill this.
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