[count-your-change]

I believe the last proposal for algae was to cover thousands of square miles with algae farms.

Saying, “Further improvement in the performance of photosynthesis under mass culture conditions, and in the yield of “biofuels” by the microalgae are needed before a cost parity with traditional fuels can be achieved.”,
does severely understate the problems to be overcome.

[Wonder Warthog]

"I believe the last proposal for algae was to cover thousands of square miles with algae farms."

What's wrong with that?? The US has LOTS of "square miles" with high solar irradicance which is useful for little else. You'd have to bring in and recycle water, but that's do-able.

[Reeses]

I believe the last proposal for algae was to cover thousands of square miles with algae farms.

Algae floats, likes saltwater, and can thrive in the open oceans like no other plant. We should leapfrog past the high capital cost pond ideas and go straight to the open oceans. Pest management and contamination are problems but they can be solved. The land and water are unlimited and free so we don't need anything close to maximum efficiency. We can completely replace the petroleum industry using about 3 percent of the ocean surface.