Reducing Oil Dependence: Clean Energy From Algae

As previously discussed on this blog, America has numerous options for reducing its unhealthy dependence on foreign oil. Ethanol, for one, has been a recent newsmaker, and hydrogen fuel, oil shale, tar sand extraction, synthetic petroleum, and even nuclear fusion have entered the possibility mix.

But while all of these techniques show great promise, they face the overwhelming downside of high costs. In time, innovation should lower these expenses, but this provides little consolation to our immediate needs, given the petrodollars that continuously flood into terror-supporting regimes.

So what should America do? A Cambridge, Massachusetts start-up called GreenFuel Technolgies Corporation has an exciting answer: Start collecting the seaweed from our sushi rolls.

Well, not quite that nitty gritty, but algae is indeed the name of the game. GreenFuel has developed a unique bioreactor system that stimulates the marine weed to convert the carbon dioxide from smokestack emissions into clean-burning biodiesel, ethanol, hydrogen, and methane. Just grow the algae, place it in the smokestacks, apply GreenFuel's conversion process, and presto: the emissions are soaked up and transformed into energy.

This is accomplished, meanwhile, without creating substantial additional costs; algae growth is inexpensive, and little fossil fuel power is required beyond the coal already burning beneath the smokestacks.

GreenFuel's process is quick, handy, and can be implemented on a large scale almost immediately. For the time being, this technology really does appear to be the answer. It may not supplant foreign oil entirely, but until the costs of ethanol, oil shale, and fusion decline dramatically, it is an excellent and highly welcome alternative.

Comments

[Oilgae]

Thanks for the article...it is heartening to see algae getting a lot of publicity, something I feel they deserve.

I co-ordinate Oilgae.com ( http://www.oilgae.com ), a site that explores use of algae as a feedstock for biodiesel, and I can say with some amount of confidence based on my researches that algae appear to be one of the most qualified candidates for biodiesel production.

While the math certainly appears to favor algae, there are a number of issues to be overcome. These have to do with (1) choosing optimal algal strains, (2) issues faced in cultivation and harvesting (believe me there are some serious bottlenecks here), and (3) cost-effective methods to extract oil and transform it into biodiesel.

So yes, there is still a long way to go before it can be proven with certainty that algal biodiesel can be cost-effective on a large scale, but it is gratifying to see brilliant minds (not to forget VC money) getting into this field. And with institutes like MIT getting into the act, I'm optimistic most of the above-mentioned issues will be overcome.

Time will tell if algae are our future source of energy, but for now, they certainly appear to have many of the qualifications required for the same.

Time will tell if algae are our future source of energy, but for now, they certainly appear to have many of the qualifications required for the same.

Narsi from Oilgae - Oil from Algae @ http://www.oilgae.com