Future of Biofuels Points to Algae
04:30 | 
At the recent Clean Tech Venture Network Conference in San Francisco, Nora McDevitt interviewed Dave Jones of Live Fuels, Inc. This start-up is developing biofuel technologies using algae. Algae multiplies so quickly and produces so much oxygen that it could reverse the “Carbon Dioxide Problem.” Unlike corn, which nets 81 gallons of biodiesel per acre (soy nets 40), algae yields as much as 15,000 gallons per acre. According to the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab, enough algae-based biodiesel can be produced each year to power current levels of U.S. petroleum-based transporation (140 billion gallons) using a mere 9.5 million acres of land. It takes 3 billion acres to produce the same amount of oil from soybeans. Algae could be the emerging front runner in biofuels.
Tags: Dave Jones, Live Fuels, Department of Energy, Energy Lab
2 Responses to “Future of Biofuels Points to Algae”
Leave a Comment
Our Client Shows
In the News
- -Surviving the Credit Crisis
- -WiMAX: Coming Soon to a City Near You
- -What's New In Collaboration Technology?
Additional Sites
Contact Info:
Press:
pr@podtech.net
Sales:
sales@podtech.net
Feedback:
feedback@podtech.net
Privacy Policy
PodTech Network is committed to protecting your online privacy while providing you with the most useful and enjoyable Web experience possible.
Terms of Use
Copyright ©2008 PodTech.net. All rights reserved. Modified: Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:13:53 -0800
April 27th, 2007 at 7:16 am
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 (Boston) 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
September 1st, 2007 at 1:55 am
[…] Alas, behold the nabobs of biofuel negativity. Their hearts are in the right place, but with an ignorance of the latest technologies that borders on peculiar, the placement of their minds is questionable. The reality of the sharply rising biofuel curve is that the future is here and now. You’ve read about 81 gallons of biodiesel per acre for corn, and 40 for soy, but how about 15,000 gallons of biodiesel per acre? That’s right, for algae-based production, a proven technology. Changes the math a bit, doesn’t it? […]