Algae: Fuel of the Future? (And do we need government subsidies?)

National Review ^ | 03/08/2012 | Nash Keune

[SeekAndFind]

Is this the energy of the future?

[preacher]

Algae Biodiesel: It's $33 a Gallon

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/algae-biodiesel-its-33-a-gallon-5652/

[Jonty30]

The nice thing about producing algae for fuel is that you can keep scaling up production, which helps drop the price.

[Sioux-san]

Even if it could be, I would be worried about the ecosystem- we need the oxygen produced by these vast fields of green goo. Sooner or later we will run out of algae - don’t you remember, that was the original source of Soylent Green until they ran out of algae ;O The same with water - I would rather have it for drinking than for fueling my car—there’s simply not enough potable water to squander it on car fuel. We need to change our thinking on Oil as “carbon-based.” I am in the Abiotic school of thought, i.e., oil is not from the oozy remains of dinosaurs and plants - rather, the earth is continuously cooking it deep down and squeezing it out all over the place. Only a fool would stop using it as a fuel.

[sickoflibs]

RE :”But Green also suggests a less innocent motive for the administration’s touting of its algae efforts. “The Obama administration has adopted a cynical tactic of finding things that Republicans or the private sector have approved of in highly qualified theoretical discussions and using that to try to bullet-proof their highly specific, politically twisted cronyist policies,” he says. “This began with cellulosic ethanol, and has persisted through cap-and-trade, the GM Volt, renewable electricity, and now, algae fuels.”

Obama’s favorite line :”This is an idea that Republicans once supported”

[Bigh4u2]

Sounds great, until the EPA steps in and declares the entire site a ‘wetlands’ and is therefore a ‘protected area’.

Heck, they declare areas ‘wetlands’ that don’t even have any water!!

[Heartlander]

Algae Akhbar!

[GonzoGOP]

At present, algal fuel would cost about $8 a gallon. That same gallon would also require 350 gallons of water to produce

A couple of things. First the 350 gallons of water are used, but not used up. That is an important distinction. It is like saying farming uses land, but if you do it right the land remains usable for next years crop. Sure improper land and water use can screw it up. But a good farmer doesn't waste a resource. And that is what this is algae farming.

You grow the algae in water, strain it out an squeeze it to get out the lipids. Now the water is still there and ready for another batch of Algae.

As for the price I see that as defining the floor. If you can manufacture gasoline from a renewable source for $8 per gallon then that is the most that gasoline will cost. Unfortunately we have seen what $5.00 a gallon gas looks like. Pushing the price up to $8.00 would be economy and possibly society collapsing.

The ability to define a floor is important. It is the difference between Titanic and Costa Concordia. If the Middle East melts down and there is no place to get more oil we go all the way down. If the mullahs drop the bomb and we can manufacture oil it will be bad, but at some point the bad stops getting worse.

[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

Obama’s favorite line :”This is an idea that Republicans once supported”

[Oldexpat]

Putting ponds in the desert..or anywhere is going to take a lot of water due to evaporation. The recovery rate is going to be really low. Right now the area they want to use to do this has zero extra water. It all goes to AZ and CA to support current AG and people.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: This is an idea that Republicans once supported”

The emphasis should be on the word — ONCE.

Easy response to Obama:

The difference between Republicans and Democrats like Obama is when the former considers an idea and learns that it is a bad one, they abandon it.

Democrats see a bad idea and want tax payers to subsidize it, and when it does not work, demand MORE subsidies.

What’s Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity again?

[GonzoGOP]

Putting ponds in the desert..or anywhere is going to take a lot of water due to evaporation.

The prototype plants I have seen are not open cycle. In fact you need to go to great lengths to keep the cycle closed to keep the algae strain pure. You don't spend millions of dollars developing a custom breed of algae just to let it go feral in a pond and get contaminated with natural algae.

In addition in a pond you are limited to atmospheric CO2 levels. But if you push up the CO2 the Algae grows much faster. So you take the output of a natural gas power plant, cool it and then dump the CO2 heavy output through the algae.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Navy Takes Biofuels Campaign Into Uncharted Waters

http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/archive/2011/January/Pages/NavyTakesBiofuelsIntoUnchartedWaters.aspx

Since 2006, the Defense Logistics Agency has procured more than 36 million gallons of ethanol-and-petroleum blends for the military. The Navy in September ordered an additional 150,000 gallons of algae-based fuel from San Francisco company Solazyme. The new agreement is seven times the size of the initial 20,000-gallon contract awarded last year. The Navy is paying big bucks for these fuels.

The service consumes an average of 1.2 billion gallons of petroleum each year at a cost of $3 billion — about $2.50 per gallon. The service paid Solazyme $8.5 million to provide just 20,000 gallons of algae-based fuel — $425 per gallon. At that rate, it would cost the Navy some $142.8 billion for the 8 million barrels of biofuel needed to meet its 2020 goal.

Camelina-based fuel is a bit cheaper but still more expensive than petroleum. In September 2009 the DLA’s defense energy support center paid Montana’s Sustainable Oils $2.7 million for 40,000 gallons of camelina-based fuel. That comes to about $67.50 per gallon.

[dfwgator]

Further proof that all of this stuff isn’t driven by worries about the environment, it’s all just more crony capitalism.

[Sioux-san]

Correct! I prefer to call it Crony Corporatism rather than Capitalism, however. Jeffrey Immelt is no capitalist - he is the poster child for the Ayn Rand character who does nothing nor goes anywhere without Big Guvmint joined at the Hip - pseudo Fascists.

[woodenickel]

Could someone smarter then me tell me “how much oil will be consumed to produce 1 gal. of Algae juice”?

[dfwgator]

Correct! I prefer to call it Crony Corporatism rather than Capitalism

I like your term better.

[LevinFan]

Can’t we just wait and see how this research goes? Dems see a new idea and want to depend on it without thinking. But too many people here are opposed to anything that isn’t oil from the ground. Science can advance and provide new answers to our problems. But whether it’s algae, or fusion, too many oppose it with knee jerk enthusiasm.

[Reeses]

$425 per gallon

And the first integrated circuit chip cost $1,000 each. Now they cost pennies. As usual the first customer was the military. Since the stone age, military spending drives the "cutting edge" of technology. If a world war breaks out America would have the algae fuel problem solved quickly. Until then we spend our national treasure on foodstamps.

[stephenjohnbanker]

Sun rose at 550AM

Obama LIES