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36 Comments
- jboitnott, on 01/03/2009, -0/+9San Diego hopes to become the Houston of the green economy. They will have tough competition. California may be in economic tatters, but some parts of it are ready for life beyond the downturn.
- inactive, on 01/03/2009, -0/+8Let's just hope it doesn't burn
- NiftyG, on 01/03/2009, -0/+6Algae is certainly a much better source than corn, that's for sure. The less corn that is grown, the better.
- elscorcho717, on 01/03/2009, -3/+8This is great for San Diego, so much scum to get rid of there.
- jonpirtle, on 01/03/2009, -1/+5It's a fact...San Diego is the greatest city on earth
you stay classy - pinchduck, on 01/03/2009, -0/+4Some investment money is fleeing the market because gas is cheap right now, but it will go back up within the year. Algae gas in it's current form is very expensive, and not economically viable. That is why people invest in R & D, to see if they can develop cheaper ways of doing things. As an example, how many vacuum tubes are in your computer right now? Yet a computer as powerful as the one you are reading this on could not be built with vacuum tubes, because it is not economically viable. The bright boys at Bell Labs discovered the transister, and cheap computers became possible. Macbooks, however, were not released the next day. You have to give these things time, and a lot of mistakes will be made. A lot of venture capital will be lost. Someone will hit upon the formula, though, and then the product will become economically viable.
- ucdbunny, on 01/03/2009, -0/+310 years? Wow many companies have already done this with yeast and e.coli. Where I work (a LBNL institute) is dedicated to turning Biomass into biofuels, the hardest step is tweaking and making it efficient, putting in the correct pathways in the cell, engineering enzymes, studying the stress on the microbes itself and tweaking them so they dont get heart attacks and die and many more factors need to be considered. Places like JBEI, Amyris, LS9, UC Berkeley (the $500 million BP project) and many other companies around the SF Bay Area have already set their goals to have biofuels available in the next 3-5 years. Hell where I work we're in our second year of a 5 year goal to have 4-5 biofuels that can be commercially upscaled. San Diego pfft.
- weirdlookinguy, on 01/03/2009, -0/+3Of course, in German it means "a whale's vagina"
- ne0codex, on 01/03/2009, -0/+3Just like Hollywood has scum films for profit, now San Diego has some scum for profit too—yay!
- pinchduck, on 01/03/2009, -0/+2I'm not sure that is really practical, as exploding fuel vapor in a compressed chamber is a very easy and convenient way to liberate energy. IANAChemist, however, so maybe there is a better way that doesn't involve ignition.
- inactive, on 01/03/2009, -0/+2This process is still pretty new compared to solar and wind. As with most other "green" technology, new processes and materials will be discovered, and that will eventually lower the cost significantly. Pair the algae farms up with solar desalination plants to supply the water, and you have a basically unlimited supply of oil.
- macauthor, on 01/03/2009, -0/+2When there's a demand for it techonology becomes cheaper. Look around your own home for examples.
Just sayin'
Also, it would be very poor policy to put all alternative energy eggs into one basket. It seems to me a mix of resources and techonologies is essential. For example, solar energy could play a role here in gray, rainy Seattle, but would never have the impact it would in southern California. Harnessing tides very obviously wouldn't work in Kansas. Algae looks promising and I truly believe when enough thought, time, resources and ingenuity are thrown at a problem humans can figure out a way. - Meursault, on 01/03/2009, -0/+2In the future, being called Pond Scum will be a huge compliment. Can't wait.
- inactive, on 01/03/2009, -0/+2Right now, extracting the oil from algae is an expensive process -- producing a gallon of algae-based gasoline, diesel or jet fuel can cost $30.
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A tad too expensive, is it not? - fabkebab, on 01/04/2009, -0/+2as a resident of Houston, I would have to say Houston would probably be a better choice than San Diego for this industry- Not only is it cheap and industrial (no need to keep everything looking pretty) but Mold and Pond Algae grow everywhere here as it is basically a drained swamp
- keeganspeck, on 01/03/2009, -0/+1Damn it, I've heard this or years and years. It's not the newest idea around. If it's so viable, how about we stop reading virtually the same article over and over, and instead start doing something about it?
- NodOfficer, on 01/03/2009, -0/+1But it has the word "green" in it!!
- motters, on 01/03/2009, -0/+1There's gold in that there scum
- xxTazxx, on 01/03/2009, -0/+1"Could" and "has" is something that science really needs to figure out. I read so many stories about things that "can" happen, but practically none do.
- inactive, on 01/03/2009, -0/+1I hope this technology pans out and becomes commercially viable. With all the wide open, sunny space we have to grow the algae, there's no reason we can't become energy independent once the cost of extracting the oil comes down.
- groo68, on 01/03/2009, -0/+1seriously, we need to move away from burning fuels, its so dirty.
- groo68, on 01/03/2009, -0/+1solar power and a battery..
- fabkebab, on 01/04/2009, -0/+1as a resident of Houston, I would have to say Houston would probably be a better choice than San Diego mfor this industry- Not only is it cheap and industrial (no need to keep everything looking pretty) but Mold and Pond Algae grow everywhere here as it is basically a drained swamp
- Yamada, on 01/04/2009, -0/+1Expect the government to be publicizing this in the next few years. I doubt this will completely cure our "addiction" to oil, but I'm sure it will make a good dent in it. Bring it on.
- marsbeyond, on 01/04/2009, -0/+1Expensive? What BS! San Diego the capital? More BS! Charlie Trafford makes his at home in Tasmania for thirty cents a liter. So are many other people all over the world. Just go out to a local pond and collect some floating scum, set up a bookshelf of recycled bottles with air stones in them from a local aquarium shop and you can grow your own too! Look at youtube, and yahoogroups like oil_from_algae. We can tell all the petro-industrialists to take a hike right now.
- the2989, on 01/04/2009, -0/+1GET OUT OF HERE, SCUM!!
- drmobutu, on 01/04/2009, -0/+1I thought the article was about Pond Scum, the band...
- inactive, on 01/03/2009, -0/+1Finally! San Diego has a use!
It's not just a place known for it's steady weather! - inactive, on 06/04/2009, -0/+0We are not pond scum.
http://www.remodelingsd.com
San Diego Bath Remodeling. - freakFlag, on 01/04/2009, -0/+0Do you fell luck? Well do you scum!?
- inactive, on 01/06/2009, -0/+0If pond scum is the future, I'm going to start growing some to get on this money gravy train.
- gkiltz, on 01/04/2009, -0/+0Pond scum?
Probably some of my former supervisors! - borez, on 01/03/2009, -1/+1But it was abandoned because it was economically not viable? Not only in America, but in Japan too.
- sdipaola, on 01/03/2009, -1/+0 Algae called pond scum? Journalism at its best.
- leapingstan, on 01/03/2009, -3/+1Long live Al Gore!
(NOT a sarcasm) - weirdlookinguy, on 01/03/2009, -3/+1***** you.
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