Doerr is no more correct in his assertions here than he was when the Segway was going to change how cities are designed. Algae has tremendous potential as a biofuel feedstock due to it’s extremely high oil content and non-competition with food. He’s correct in that the challenge is in the production process, however R&D has only begun into optimizing the process of producing algae on a large economical commercial scale.
His comments are as asinine as those of Thomas Watson, Chairman of IBM when he said in 1943 there was a world market for “maybe five computers”.
I was thinking that algae was being discredited due to the fact that technically it holds the most promise in the biofuel field (a bit of “political logic” that always seems to override reality - just as AGW is “political logic”. Where’s the vested interest?)
Just look at the potential yield versus soybean based biodiesel, algae is ahead with 50x per acre. What I would like to know about the algae process is if it can be fed a waste stream.