The Future of Algae has been a hot topic among energy and cleantech bloggers, but it is still way off the radar of mainstream media. This Wall Street Journal video looks at one of the world's leading catalogs and wholesalers (US$75 per tube) of algae species based at the University of Texas-Austin.
Despite the hype, algae is more history than science fiction. In fact it is already the world's dominate source of energy. Petroleum is just chemical energy stored in the form of hydrogen-carbon bonds that were assembled by ancient sea-living microbes (diatoms). So, oil is in essence the result of ancient algae growth!
So instead of extracting reserves of oil, we can 'grow energy' using efficient biochemical pathways of algae (and bacteria) that eat carbon and, then using the power of light, bind it with hydrogen to produce bio-oil that can be used as a source of energy (via engine or fuel cell) or as a feedstock for biomaterials.
Related Algae and Bioenergy Posts on The Energy Roadmap.com
Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, algae, biofuels, bioenergy, bacteria, fuelcell