THE ULTIMATE NEW ENERGY?

Forget corn ethanol – PLEASE! Algae are among the fastest growing plants in the world and 50% of their weight is oil that can be refined into anything petroleum can be refined into. That moves them out of the “pond scum” and health food categories. Glen Kertz, plant physiologist/president/CEO, Valcent Products: "Algae is the ultimate in renewable energy…We are a giant solar collecting system. We get the bulk of our energy from the sunshine…"

Kertz and his partners in Vertigro are using a patented techhnique of growing algae in long rows of hanging “baggies” and claim they can produce 100,000 gallons of algae-derived oil/year/acre. Corn gets 30 gallons. Soybeans get 50 gallons.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) studied algae in open ponds from 1978 in its Aquatic Species program. In 1996, when oil hit $20/barrel, DOE switched its study to cellulosic sources.

Kertz, Valcent Products: "A pond has a limited amount of surface area for solar absorption…"

Vertigro is growing huge volumes of algae in baggies in greenhouses and studying which algae produce what oil. One may be better for jet fuel, another for truck diesel. Experiments are also looking at what nutrients produce what qualities.

More fun: Part of algae research involves studying their prolific reproduction. They do it by themselves, with each other and orgiastically. Maybe that’s why algae's used as a health food drink (Spirulina).

The best news: Algae eat greenhouse gas emissions for lunch. Literally. Grow them near a coal plant with carbon capture technology and the emissions can be fed to the algae instead of buried. The algae then use the emissions to make fuel. Cue Disney: “The circle, the circle of life…”

The Bush-administration-backed 2007 Energy Security and Independence Act promotes algae. Research is firing up at the U.S. Department of Defense and among entrepreneurs and governments from Minnesota to New Zealand. Experts, however, think algae-oil is 5 to 10 years from market-ready. Why? Cost, of course.

Al Darzins, NREL: "There's not any one system that anyone has chosen yet. Whatever it is has to be dirt, dirt cheap…"

Lots more information on algae as noncrop, nonagrofuel biofuel at the National Algae Association

click to enlarge

Algae: ‘The ultimate in renewable energy’
Marsha Walton, April 1, 2008 (CNN)

WHO
Glen Kertz, plant physiologist/president/CEO, Valcent Products; Global Green Solutions; Vertigro;The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) (Al Darzins, DOE's National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL); Aga Pinowska, research scientist, Valcent Products;

WHAT
Algae is a much more promising source of biofuel than corn or any other food crop or cellulosic biomass. Vertigro, a joint venture of Valcent Products and Global Green Solutions, is doing research in hopes of bringing the product to market.

Growing fuels for trucks and jets in baggies. (click to enlarge)

WHEN
- The Valcent/Global Green growth method will produce 100,000 gallons of algae-dreived oil/year/acre. (Corn: 30 gallons of ethanol/year/acre. Soybeans: 50 gallons of biofuel/year/acre.
- DOE’s Aquatic Species Program studied algae-oil from 1978 but abandoned its programs in 1996 when oil was $20/barrel.

A field of fuel in a sun drenched wasteland - and all the water can be recycled. (click to enlarge)

WHERE
- DOE studies were on open ponds in California, Hawaii, and in Roswell, New Mexico.
- Research no longer focuses on growing algae in ponds but is learning how masas produce it in controlled circumstances.
- Valcent Products is based in Anthony, TX.
- Global Green Solutions is based in Canada.

WHY
- Kertz holds 20 patents.
- Valcent and Global Green use a $5 million facility for growing algae in long rows of vertical plastic containers.
- Open pond problems: land use, evaporation, contamination.
- There are ~65,000 known algae species and hundreds of thousands yet to be identified.
- Algae is also known as Spirulina, a health food drink.

Algae grows fat on coal plant spew. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Glen Kertz, president/CEO, Valcent Products: "By going vertical, you can get a lot more surface area to expose cells to the sunlight. It keeps the algae hanging in the sunlight just long enough to pick up the solar energy they need to produce, to go through photosynthesis…"
- Aga Pinowska, research scientist, Valcent Products: "Even the Aztecs knew it was beneficial; they used it as a high protein food…"