Algae, An Interim Answer to the Energy Crisis: What You Almost Learned in Grammar School

Algae are those little one-celled green plants that you saw the first time you looked under a microscope in grade school. They were used to introduce you to the idea that plants use this green stuff (chlorophyll) to take sunlight and carbon dioxide and make their own food.

What the teachers did not tell you, because they did not think you needed to know, was that some of that food made by algae is in the form of oils that can be converted to diesel or even gasoline. You did not need to know that because the nice cuddly oil companies with nice big signs that light up at night could pull oil right out of the ground.

Then some evil men said that they owned that ground and that your mommy and daddy had to pay more for it, a lot more. So, one of our presidents told us that it would be a good idea to use less of it by making the car engines more efficient. He told us that if we did that, we would not have to take any more oil from those evil men, ever. And, he was right. And, he also told us we should make energy in a different way.

But, he wasn't as much fun as a very very nice old man.

So this very very nice old man became President and said, "phooey." Your mommy and daddy are big and strong and don't have to change what they do because some evil men owned the land with most of the oil. And, just to prove it, the very very nice old man told us not even to bother with using less of it. And, so, instead of using no more oil from the evil men, we now are using more of it than ever.

And, to be cuddly with the nice cuddly oil companies with the nice big signs that light up, the very very nice old man stopped trying to find different ways to make energy.

But, the very very nice old man did not tell your mommy and daddy that you would have to lose your lives and limbs to keep your friends' cars running. And that the price would go up even more. And that many of the beaches you go to and many animals you see in the zoo and in picture books will disappear, forever.

I don't think that was very nice of the very very nice old man, do you?

And then some of our own evil men (yes, my dears, we have evil men too) said: if the very very nice old man could just say "phooey", then we can too. And, we work for the nice cuddly oil companies with nice big signs, so we can make our personal lives better too. So, we don't care what they say in school, or even what the big boys and girls who have been in school for 20 years (yikes, and they don't even get recess once a day!) studying this have warned us about. So, our own evil men sent mommy and daddy to war, and more than 4000 never came home again to read you a story.

Our own evil men are not very nice either, are they?

So, children, look under that microscope and see these little green plants? The algae. I am going to tell you something your mommy and daddy never learned--these algae can make oil and gas for mommy and daddy's cars. The carbon dioxide created by burning the oil is used by the algae to make more oil and gas, so it is carbon neutral.

Let's go over here to a map of the United States of America. There are some people who live in a state called Maryland. You remember from Unit 3, that was one of the first 13 states!

Want to know something else about Maryland? If you took land (in scattered parcels, where there's lots of sun, and not much else) just a little bit bigger than Maryland, and grew algae to make oil and gas -- voila!, we could make all the oil and gasoline we need to run mommy and daddy's cars. That's what some very very smart boys and girls at the Department of Energy have told us (and, you know, the very very nice old man wanted to get rid of the Department of Energy...maybe the very very nice old man was not very nice after all?)

And, we could make it every year. And, if we also improved efficiency, we would need less of it too. And, you would not have to lose your lives for it. And, it would not make the snow melt, the beaches disappear, or the weather change. And, your mommy and daddy could get good jobs with good wages, so they can take you on vacations to the mountains and learn to ski (because there will be snow) and to the beaches to swim and play in the sand (because there will be beaches).

While you are looking at the map, tell me what this is, right next to Maryland....yes, it is Washington DC.
You know what happens in Washington DC, don't you? No hands? Well, you are such smart boys and girls, you are right. Nothing happens.

That's because the nice cuddly oil companies with the big signs that light up are very very cuddly and very very nice to the people in those buildings.

I don't think that is very nice of the nice cuddly oil companies, do you? Unfortunately, John McCain loves it. And, he's been so cuddly with them that he has changed completely what he says is true. Now, don't go copying John McCain -- if you do, you will have detention, we do not allow fibbing in this school.

Fortunately, Barack Obama agrees with us. He will not let the nice cuddly oil companies be so nice and cuddly to the people in those buildings.

And, if he thinks about it, perhaps he will take some money from those nice cuddly oil companies and buy some big legos, and build the capacity so that private companies can lease it to make the algae grow and produce oil for mommy and daddy's cars.

And, that could happen as fast or faster than the nice cuddly oil companies with the big dollars can get more oil out of the ground. And, unlike the oil pulled out of the ground -- a one shot deal -- we can make more and more oil from algae every year.

You know how you could tell if this could happen? Sell the nice cuddly oil companies leases to drill, invest heavily in the algae capacity as above, and then see what nice cuddly oil companies with the big dollars actually do. They say they will "drill, drill, drill." I bet they don't even drill.

Time for recess. Bet I get to Arizona before you get to the Outer Continental Shelf!

Oh yeah?

Yeah!

Comments

[SCG2]

Widescale Biodiesel Production from Algae
Michael Briggs, University of New Hampshire, Physics Department (revised August 2004)

http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html

[mclellan]

I hope the point is that we need to stop using fossil fuels whatever the method. We don't need a 'liquid' fuel as suggested by solarpowerguy, we just need a fuel that will move a vehicle at a reasonable speed for about 300 miles, less if one is an urbanite. We need a new infrastructure that will allow us to dispense energy as effieciently as we do petroleum products. Solar is clean and abundant and is only lacking efficiency, and that is coming fast. MIT is on the right track, just check out their progress in the tech pages at news.google.com. Solar can produce electricity which can produce hydrogen or compressed air or even algal derived diesel fuel (it takes energy to extract energy). No detention for you, but you lose 10 points for not thinking outside the box. You get your 10 points back for being engaged in this most important of issues. Energy is why we are in the middle east in the first place and it shapes global politics.

[PaulAbrams]

If the solar breakthrough is real, it could be easier than algae....

[ImmanuelGoldstein]

Various researchers since the seventies at least (or at least that was the first time I heard about it) have been doing fuel extraction from algae on a science fair project level. Nothing new here. Also there have been numerous startups repeating these experiments. Usable products from this effort? Nothing, zero, zilch.
Algae as a fuel has the same problem as other biofuels. Photosynthesis doesn't have that good an energy conversion factor and you lose even more in the extraction process. Plus you'll never run a society that looks anything like ours on algae,not with our highly intensive energy consumption. Not unless you want to turn one of the great lakes into an algae farm.

[PaulAbrams]

take a look, e.g., at www.saphireenergy.com

[theepoxyman]

There are two Ps in sapphire here is a working link
http://www.sapphireenergy.com/product

They just got approval to set up a plant near me, out in the desert

[WintersCrow]

Detention for you. Here's one fib: "Usable products from this effort? Nothing, zero, zilch."

It's not commercial yet, with petroleum so cheap recently. But usable products have been made. Here's a story on a product getting used.

"It looks like Solazyme will be making algal biodiesel for the US military, after a test-drive demonstrated the fuel’s superior cold-weather properties when compared to commercially-available biodiesel. Former Director of Central Intelligence and Under-Secretary of the Navy R. James Woolsey tested the fuel himself by driving to the Worldwide Energy Conference & Trade Show in an unmodified 2008 Ford F450 fueled by 100% algal biodiesel."
http://gas2.org/2008/04/17/first-heavy-duty-diesel-powered-by-algae-biodiesel-solazymes-soladiesel/

Here's another falsehood: "Algae as a fuel has the same problem as other biofuels. Photosynthesis doesn't have that good an energy conversion factor and you lose even more in the extraction process."

The main problem of other biofuels is not the conversion factor. It's cost, including fossil-fuel inputs and interference with other uses of the same land. If we could convert sunlight into usable energy at 0.0001% efficiency at zero cost, we would have unlimited energy for free.

And more dishonesty: "Not unless you want to turn one of the great lakes into an algae farm."

Algae for biofuel is grown in tubes and ponds, not open bodies of water.

[ImmanuelGoldstein]

"Detention for you. Here's one fib: "Usable products from this effort? Nothing, zero, zilch."

Okay I'll eat that one. I should have said 'marketable'. But I still say it's a ball not a strike. How much algae oil have YOU used over the last 30 years? I for one haven't used a single drop.....

"If we could convert sunlight into usable energy at 0.0001% efficiency at zero cost, we would have unlimited energy for free."

This is just plain dumb. Its the low conversion efficiency that makes it expensive. If I could extract gold from seawater at zero cost, I'd be a billionaire overnight.And if I could extract oil from tar sands or shale at zero cost I'd be a trillionaire. And if I could directly tap the fusion energy of Earth's sun at zero cost, I'd be selling vacation condo's on Pluto. Guess what , NOTHING has 'zero cost'.

"Algae for biofuel is grown in tubes and ponds, not open bodies of water."

Algae for science fair experiments is grown in tubes. We aren't going to make a test tube the size of Maryland , nor are we going to light it with electric lights. Large scale algae biofuels production will require open bodies of water and big ones at that to collect the highly dispersed solar energy.

One ball, no strikes. The manager is sending in a relief pitcher to replace Wintercrow...

[theepoxyman]

Nothing, zilch, nada????
You need to talk to Richard Branson, he has already flown a 747 on this fuel.
It is not bio diesel, it is not ethanol, it is Green Crude.
It can be refined into gasoline, diesel or jet fuel.
It is chemically identical to gas or diesel that comes from the ground, except it is carbon neutral.

read a bit here http://sapphireenergy.com/press_release/1

[SolarPowerGuy]

I love the idea of algae-based biofuels. But let's not oversell the idea, OK? It still needs work.

First, converting a piece of land equal in area to that of Maryland to algae farming is a staggering undertaking. Algae grow in water, which we will need to provide. How much water does it take to flood the surface of Maryland, and keep it flooded? And every algae pond has the potential to become a swamp, or mud flat, or mosquito breeding ground, if mismanaged. And this is America -- so trust me, some greedy bastard will mismanage something.

Second, what you derive from algae (without lots of fancy chemistry) is DIESEL fuel, not gasoline. Most Americans don't, and in several states can't, own Diesel-powered vehicles. With good reason: Diesel engines, even running on bio-Diesel, produce more of several types of pollutants than gasoline engines produce.

Finally, we should NOT search unquestioningly for solutions which allow Mommy and Daddy to drive the cars they have now -- because too many Mommies and Daddies own SUV's, which they drive solo between their urban jobs and their far-flung ex-urban homes.

We do need a renewable, liquid fuel. We also need to learn how to use less energy moving around.

[PaulAbrams]

Four points:
1) Algae are grown in tubes, to provide greater surface area exposed to the sun. No ponds. No mosquitos
2) I agree on efficiency: I included a point in the article to improve engine efficiency
3) In high sun areas, you set up solar panels to create electricity to pump the algae/water through the tubes. If you want to see a picture of it, go to www.saphireenergy.com.
4) Algae can produce gasoline as well as diesel. See same website.