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30 Comments
- Jazzillion, on 10/10/2007, -2/+8I say we avoid using our water tables as a farming medium and stick to using land. Humans have done enough contamination as it is (especially from contaminated water from agriculture itself). If the focus is on bio-fuel, cannabis is the most productive viable option providing 10x the biomass of corn, requiring no pesticides or fertilizers, grows seasonally, and enriches the soil rather than destroying it.
Obi-pot Cann-obi, you are our only hope! - geminitojanus, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Could be done, but it's rather inefficient. It's easier and more efficient to convert a bunch of algae into hydrogen or oil in one place with one giant machine than inventing a bunch of tiny little machines that perform the conversion, and are somehow still portable enough to install into cars.
- Mockylock, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4This was brought up a while back ago, 2 guys were thinking about it while fishing... nonetheless, this stuff can be grown in the desert with high efficiency. This is a huge step toward moving away from food producing lands and other fuels.
- Scruffydan, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4this is probably the next best thing: the greenbox
http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSL18 ...
Three men from Wales] have developed a box which they say can be fixed underneath a car in place of the exhaust to trap the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming — including carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide — and emit mostly water vapour.
The captured gases can be processed to create a biofuel using genetically modified algae...
If the system takes off, drivers with a Greenbox would replace it when they fill up their cars and it would go to a bioreactor to be emptied.
Through a chemical reaction, the captured gases from the box would be fed to algae, which would then be crushed to produce a bio-oil. This extract can be converted to produce a biodiesel almost identical to normal diesel.
This biodiesel can be fed back into a diesel engine, the emptied Greenbox can be affixed to the car and the cycle can begin again.
The process also yields methane gas and fertilizer, both of which can be captured separately. The algae required to capture all of Britain's auto emissions would take up around 1,000 acres
The three estimate that 10 facilities could be built across the UK to handle the carbon dioxide from the nearly 30 million cars on British roads. - InfiniteNothing, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Let's skip the middle man and invent cars that burn algae ;)
- Terr01, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4You think you're being clever, but you're not.
There's a reason people didn't skip the mainframe thing. It was a technological and economic issue.
Ditto for this. MAYBE someday we'll pour algal contentrations into the car, but for the forseeable future it'll be a centralized thing. - sishgupta, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3The ironic part of your statement is that we are actually slowly moving back to a "mainframe and terminal" approach to computing (at least for work/school workstations) because these days it is cheaper and more energy efficient.
Except these days we call them servers and thin clients, and there are some technological differences. - Jalsfw, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Well, I better go get my fish tank and algae seed out again..
- 80hd, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Yes. Because diesel has such a terrible track record with fleet vehicles, heavy use machinery, shipping etc
- fugazied, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I have a friend who is a research scientist in Australia who is working on this exact thing. Pretty exciting idea.
- eQUIV, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Yah hopefully they make some progress with this. We're looking at scary times if we don't come up with an alternative fuel source. If anyone hasn't read http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net yet, should do so. Inform yourself.
- freeloader, on 10/16/2007, -0/+1A few big companies are attempting to develop improved algae production techniques in West Texas of all places...
They are growing particular strains of algae in plastic bags and producing hydrogen from it.
The production ratio per acre is much higher than corn or soybean oil when it comes to alternative fuels.
http://e85.whipnet.net/alt.fuel/algae.html - rento, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2I d rather have them in my tank than on my beach I hate em!
- Anticast, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2and who would figure mainframes and terminals could ever be replaced by a computer that fits under your desk?
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1How is a hybrid car a failure? They can almost double a car's gas milage, saving a lot of money over several years of ownership. Not a perfect solution, but how is using less gas not a good idea?
- Terr01, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Yes, but you're omitting the fact that the algae are self-repairing and self-reproducing (consider the costs of PV manufacturing) and if we ever want that energy in a *portable liquid form* then the efficiencies are probably much better doing solar->chemical than a solar->electrical->chemical conversion.
- Terr01, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I'm on the Vapor/Hoax side of this thing.
- badmonkey8, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0cool article. Not only is it delicious but it can be used for fuel too! Pretty sweet lol.
- slimfox, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Should have been done a long time ago. Algae grows fast, very fast. High time someone put it to good use
- mtcool1988, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1I've been telling people about this for years, Glad its finally catching on, read this its amazing
http://easygrowhouseplants.blogspot.com/2006/12/in ...
why did we ever forget... - harmonyb, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0The article specifies growing algae in tanks - not in natural aquatic areas.
- jeffreyf, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1The two most promising green tech advancements, IMHO, are algal biofuels and cellulosic ethanol. Both have enormous potential to revolutionize our energy sources, and give me some hope for the future. In the mean time, my Hummer needs gas.
- crzdmn, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1Good article but not anything new, i've seen this on digg at least 2 other times.
I just can't wait until they create an algae monster that climbs buildings and eats people for energy while farting giant clouds of hydrogen that explode after floating into an ignition source. - ortsed, on 10/10/2007, -1/+0It turns aquatic areas into dead zones of overgrown algae. A few companies want to drop iron ingots all over the ocean to get this effect.
If you've ever been near a pond/river covered in algae and how dead it is and how terrible it smells, then you know what this is like. - objectcode, on 10/10/2007, -3/+1BLUE YOURE MY BOY
- scabbers, on 10/10/2007, -4/+1This will be awesome when the genes cross into toxic algae.
- mspiels, on 10/10/2007, -3/+0The only problem with algae is the 5,000 gallons of water per acre needed to grow it (corn has 18 gal/ac). I think being able to com bust salt water would be the biggest alternative fuel breakthrough.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiesel - GreyFlcn, on 10/10/2007, -4/+0The problem being that if it's not inside an enclosure with intensive water recycling, then it's not sustainable.
It would also invite native low yield algae to outcompete your "energy algae". Lowering yields.
The problem with that, that if it's inside an artificial air-tight enclosure, then it can't scale up effectively.
So you got a catch 22 with algae.
http://greyfalcon.net/algae
http://greyfalcon.net/algae2
http://greyfalcon.net/algae3
_______________
Besides which, Photosynthesis is inherently kneecapped below 11% solar efficiency. Closer to 3-6% solar efficiency in real world conditions. Meanwhile solar electricity can get anywhere into the range of 50%-10% solar efficiency.
http://greyfalcon.net/csp2
http://greyfalcon.net/pv - Jalsfw, on 10/10/2007, -8/+1This could well be similar to the failure known as the 'Hybrid Car'
- antiteleologian, on 10/10/2007, -9/+2Attention, college know-it-all hippies, another green use of genetic engineering!
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