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Global environmental challenges

16:14 October 26th, 2007

Algal blooms could make your car zoom

Posted by: Timothy Gardner
Tags: Environment

Algae growing in bags of water that after harvesting can be pressed to release vegetable oil for making biodieselThere’s a growing buzz about making renewable fuel biodiesel from farmed algae. Single celled algae are some of the planet’s oldest, fastest multiplying forms of life. They also happen to have a big hunger for greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, and the resulting biodiesel could cut emissions from cars. Scientists have been talking about it for decades and the U.S. National Renewable Energy Lab will soon reopen federal research into making fuel from pond scum. Small companies are venturing in too.  Since the greenhouses where algae is farmed can be built in marginal areas like deserts or scrub lands, growing feedstock for the fuel shouldn’t take up rich farm land — one of the downsides of U.S. ethanol made from corn. To be sure, algae oil has a long journey if it will ever be a viable source of motor fuel. So far major oil companies have mostly ignored it. And corn farmers have big friends in the U.S. Congress that could keep that business dominating the biofuels scene. But Glen Kertz, a plant scientist and CEO of algae company Valcent Products. Inc, says an algae lobby is forming this year. Big Oil. Big Corn. What do you think? Will Big Algae ever take shape?

One comment so far

Algae farming for biofuels is taking off- PetroSun just announced a 1000 acre site in Texas. Here at Ecoversity in Santa Fe, we are presenting a fully-functioning small-scale algae to fuel system. It’s clean and green and makes the purest oil! (See ecoversity.org)

- Posted by stephen miller

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