inhabitat.com— Air New Zealand is testing the waters for a new fuel made from the algae found in pond scums, which could have the capacity to reduce the entire carbon footprint of the airline industry to zero.
Jul 31, 2007View in Crawl 4
I'm not sure the idea is to harvest "wild" pond scum. As with most other biofuel ideas, I'm guessing this scheme would rely on agriculture. However, I agree with your first statement, because as with most otehr biofuel ideas, I'm rather skeptical.
What you don't seem to understand is that "oil" companies are really in the profit business. What CEO, of say Exxon, is going to live long enough to see the profit from alternative energy? What would be his motivation? The ambiguous future of our civilization or some other altruistic motive? Hardly! That would mean vast amounts of money spent on research and retooling. A loss of profits and a reinvestment into a future they wont live to see. Why would they do that when they already reap in billions of dollars on existing technology that only needs to be maintained to bring them a much higher profit margin that they can spend now. He who dies with the most toys wins mentality. There's a lot of energy out there just waiting to be tapped and until I see oil companies abandoning their old ways and seriously investing in finding new ways to tap those resources I say MrNexus is right "Screw the oil companies" and "keep this stuff coming" ! It's time to bury the dinosaurs.
I can't be absolutely sure here because I am not an expert on this but... doesn't your description actually describe a closed loop system - ergo a "zero" carbon footprint? You say you need carbon/organic molecules to feed the algae. But then you get those molecules "back" when you burn it. Those molecules will then be re-used to create the next batch of algae. Of course, there is the issue of releasing the carbon high in the atmosphere vs. on the ground where the algae can use it... but on a global scale (and for the moment ignoring such things as fossil fuels used to harvest, process, and transport the new fuel) aren't we talking about a completely closed loop system?Please excuse me if I misunderstood your comment.
Cunning people those Kiwis, no other nationality knows more about the many uses of sheep. I am guessing that they first tried to make biodiesel from sheep parts. When they didn't succeed making biodiesel from sheep they moved on to greener pastures.
kloroformdJul 31, 2007
If this works... good job.I won't be surprised if mosquito repellent companies start investing in this technology either.
gmorganJul 31, 2007
Where does it get the energy from. Electrical is not a silver bullet. It's about energy, not the mode of transfer.
seculargJul 31, 2007
Ummm. Can't get rid of a carbon footprint when your burning carbon based fuel (biofuel - the algae, ethanol, etc).
sinisterleftistJul 31, 2007
I'm not sure the idea is to harvest "wild" pond scum. As with most other biofuel ideas, I'm guessing this scheme would rely on agriculture. However, I agree with your first statement, because as with most otehr biofuel ideas, I'm rather skeptical.
sazeracJul 31, 2007
What you don't seem to understand is that "oil" companies are really in the profit business. What CEO, of say Exxon, is going to live long enough to see the profit from alternative energy? What would be his motivation? The ambiguous future of our civilization or some other altruistic motive? Hardly! That would mean vast amounts of money spent on research and retooling. A loss of profits and a reinvestment into a future they wont live to see. Why would they do that when they already reap in billions of dollars on existing technology that only needs to be maintained to bring them a much higher profit margin that they can spend now. He who dies with the most toys wins mentality. There's a lot of energy out there just waiting to be tapped and until I see oil companies abandoning their old ways and seriously investing in finding new ways to tap those resources I say MrNexus is right "Screw the oil companies" and "keep this stuff coming" ! It's time to bury the dinosaurs.
bvz2000Jul 31, 2007
I can't be absolutely sure here because I am not an expert on this but... doesn't your description actually describe a closed loop system - ergo a "zero" carbon footprint? You say you need carbon/organic molecules to feed the algae. But then you get those molecules "back" when you burn it. Those molecules will then be re-used to create the next batch of algae. Of course, there is the issue of releasing the carbon high in the atmosphere vs. on the ground where the algae can use it... but on a global scale (and for the moment ignoring such things as fossil fuels used to harvest, process, and transport the new fuel) aren't we talking about a completely closed loop system?Please excuse me if I misunderstood your comment.
Closed AccountJul 31, 2007
Cunning people those Kiwis, no other nationality knows more about the many uses of sheep. I am guessing that they first tried to make biodiesel from sheep parts. When they didn't succeed making biodiesel from sheep they moved on to greener pastures.
nikimediaMar 11, 2009
more should be looked into regarding activated carbon and activated charcoal, from companies such as <a class="user" href="http://www.carbonresources.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.carbonresources.com</a> and <a class="user" href="http://www.theactivatedcarbon.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.theactivatedcarbon.com</a>