2.15.2010

Top off the gas tank with some algae

  • DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) has been able to extract oil from algal ponds at $2 per gallon and says they will soon be able to implement large-scale refinement of that oil into jet fuel for less than $3 per gallon.
  • This project stemmed from the US military being the nation's single largest energy consumer at 60-75 million barrels of oil per year.
  • Pros to algae-based fuel:
    • Algal farms don't threaten food supplies (unlike corn-based ethanol).
    • Algal strains can be grown on household waste or other unsanitary water supplies.
    • Algae absorbs COduring its growth (theoretically making the fuel carbon-neutral before procession & transport).
  • It's amazing how research to reduce military costs could end up being America's saving grace for an affordable renewable energy source.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/13/algae-solve-pentagon-fuel-problem

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