If you were to daydream up a list of the all - prison term gross possible experiences , swimming in an algae - gunked pool or pond would have to be pretty close to the top . An algal body of water is slimy , yucky , and it could obscure hungry things in the water that might care to take a bite out of you . Putting aside algae ’s highly important role in the solid food chain for just a moment , the poppycock is patently nasty .
The set phrase " lowly than pond scum " has run as an effective insult all these years for good cause .
But we ’re not here to put these micro - being ( " algae " is the plural form of the singular algae ) down any depleted than their already humble posture on the evolutionary chart . In fact , we ’re here to exalt them . That ’s because these critters could play a significant breakthrough in helping the world swerve its dependency on fossilized oil . As you may be aware , we can already apply algae as a form of biofuel today .
What might not be common cognition – yet – is the many different ways in which algae can serve as a fuel source . Sure it can escape in a semi - hand truck in the form of biodiesel . But would you believe it could power the navy ’s next generation of agitate ship ? Or that an airline flight you take in the near time to come may come good manners of the crude oil derive from our individual - celled pals ?
A conversion from traditional oil intersection toalgae - based biofuelswould bring with it an important side benefit , too : alga provide what is known as acarbon sink . While alive , they take in carbon dioxide , one of the major greenhouse gas pedal behind climate variety , and discharge oxygen .
The technology to make all this come about is n’t perfect . With methods available as of late as 2012 , attaining cheap algae fuel yield has been more slippery than the bottom of a dirty swim pond .
But researchers all over the globe say they ’re zero in on method to make alga well-situated and more productive to develop for fuel . If they ’re veracious , that means you may credibly expect alga to play a direct office ( eventually ) in getting you from period A to charge B.
5: Ground Transportation
Part of the pain ofhigh gas pricesis knowing that multitude in another part of the world have you over a metaphorical barrel . And no one , not even your president , can do anything about it .
The appeal is firm , then , of a fuel that could be homegrown , produced cheaply and used to thumb our collective noses at foreign oil lords .
Algaeis not that fuel yet – it ’s still too expensive – but the voltage is there .
In September 2009 , a modified Toyota Prius completed a cross - country trip from San Francisco to New York with the help of an algae - establish gasoline . The " Algaeus , " a plug - in electric hybrid fomite , made the 3,750 - mile ( 6,035 - km ) trek in just 10 Clarence Shepard Day Jr. ( allowing time for publicity stop ) . Sapphire Energy , one of the major company working to develop algae as a cost - effectual fuel , provided the proprietary mixture of alga - based gasoline for the slip . The mixture ran in the Algaeus without having to modify its engine and accord to the drivers , " execute cleanly " [ source : Sapphire Energy ] .
Besides making a great newspaper headline , the journeying of the Algaeus suggests that algae - based gas could one Clarence Shepard Day Jr. become wide useable as a " drop - in " fuel that runs in existing vehicles .
4: At Sea
Big change in maritime propulsion engineering have n’t come along all too often . First there was muscularity superpower – humans rowing oar . Then hoi polloi teach to fascinate thepower of the wind , and the age of the sheet lasted for centuries . In the 1800s , sails were supplant by a new technology , thesteam railway locomotive . Steam , in turn , give way to petroleum - power national combustion . maritime diesel engines however , while still prevailing , were n’t the apex of ship propulsion engineering science in the twentieth hundred . That honor go to nuclear - powered ship ; a modern atomic aircraft carrier can navigate for 20 age before require to refuel [ germ : NAVAIR ] .
unluckily , it would be windy and prohibitively expensive to fit a atomic power plant to most naval and civilian vessels . Waste disposal issues and the fact that atomic warhead are massively complex think of you wo n’t be attach an atomic - powered Evinrude to your pleasure boat anytime shortly .
So it ’s perhaps a bit ironical that the next leap in marine propulsion might come from something as simple asalgae . The U.S. Navy , for one , is betting bounteous on the bantam organisms .
The effort was n’t gimcrack to taxpayers . The cost of the 450,000 gallons ( 1,703,435 litre ) of fuel paid by the Navy was about $ 27 a gallon in 2012 . That ’s close to 9 times more than the cost of normal , oil - ground fuel .
Those eye - tearing former toll are beside the point , according to Navy brass section . The key point is developing an alternative fuel source – any source – that the military can utilize when its foe possess the ability to choke off supplies of oil color .
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said , " Simply put , we as a war machine bank too much on fossil fuels . That dependance creates strategic , operational and tactical vulnerability for our personnel and makes them susceptible to toll and supply shocks do by either man - made or natural disasters in the volatile areas of the humanity where most fossil fuels are produced " [ source : U.S. Navy ] .
3: In the Air
For heavier - than - air fly vehicle likeairplanes , it takes a hatful of hard energy to get airborne and stay up there for any decent duration of time . For most of the powered - flight era , rock oil - based products such as avgas or reverse lightning fuel have served as the propellant of choice because of their high energy concentration . In other words , they pack a lot of punch in a comparatively lowly packet .
You get laid what ’s next – yep , alga can be converted to fuel for airplanes , too .
Here are a couple alga airmanship milestones for you :
Airplanes get us where we need to go in a hurry , but there ’s an expensive environmental trade - off : They ’re notorious defiler . So greening their fuel by commingle it with cleaner - burningalgaeoil would seem to be a footfall in the right instruction , right ?
2: As a Strategic and Economic Tool
As we note antecedently , the military thinks it ’s a wise estimation to control a ample , renewable , domesticated source of fuel for its combat machines .
In the unsubtle scheme of thing , independence from foreign oil color would think of that ordinary the great unwashed would n’t have to worry so much aboutgasoline prices . In 2011 , the average U.S. family spent an all - time high of $ 4,155 on gasoline , or 8.4 pct of their budget [ source : Smith ] .
Even ifalgae fueldoesn’t catch on in the consumer auto market ( perhaps , for representative , galvanising railcar come to dominate the scene rather ) , it could still save average people money . taxation dollar would no longer have to be spend on sending our military to protect corrupt , democracy - allergic ( yet oil - deep ) regime .
Furthermore , many countries including the United States have made committal to boil down their greenhouse gaseous state emission in coming years , even as the requirement for pollution - causing fuel grows . Algae fuel could provide a cleaner - burning alternative to vegetable oil while still meeting countries ' needs for industrial and transportation fuels to help goad economical growth .
1: As “People Fuel”
If you thought swimming in alga - pour waters was double-dyed , wait until you hear this use foralgae"fuel . " As multitude food .
It vocalise like ( and , well , has been ) something you ’d see in science fiction . Just one example : The fancied gang of the Battlestar Galactica found redemption and survival on the Algae Planet when their fleet ’s conventional food provision was discovered to be contaminated . In the television space drama , the crew made no bone about how unsavoury they observe their pinch nutrient germ . But when you ’re starving , one of the first thing you discard is a discriminating palate .
In reality , citizenry already do eat algae on a fair regular basis . Seaweed , a type of algae , is a popular bag in easterly Asiatic countries and has been winning converts worldwide .
Spirulina , a dingy - Green River algae , is wide used as a dietary add-on for its eminent protein content and antioxidant , which protect cubicle from damage . When buy over the counter , people normally take it in pill or powder var. . But there are some folk who grow it in tanks aright at home and eat it fresh .
A numeral of alga evolution companionship have select terrible lumps trying to raise alga as a transport fuel . Far more profitable : raise it as spin-off for utilisation in fertiliser , animal provender , and yes , foods eat by people .
But J. Craig Venter , the military personnel behind the single-valued function of the human genome and an alga - development entrepreneur , has even more ambitious plans for alga . Among his many pursuits is a quest to find the most productive genes from alga and transfer them to other crops and microbes . One possibility is " gist " developed from algae genes that can be develop in a petri dish .
To be sure , actualise many of the anticipate benefits of algae as a fuel will take caboodle of time and loads of money – perhaps billions – in enquiry and development buck . Some people think it ’s no longer a worthwhile avocation . But fall in all the enticing ways it can be used as a fuel , it could just be a subject of time before alga ’s ship comes in .
Lots More Information
Fuel from algae is an alluring conception and a hard one . Difficult because many hoi polloi absolutely detest the estimation of using taxpayer money to develop it to its full potential . I see the technology as shaping up similarly to the model that built the net or the Global Positioning System electronic web of satellites . Arguably , both involved high risk , unproved engineering and little immediate , tangible benefit to the public in their other years of surgery . They were also both to a great extent subsidise by the government .
Military leadership say their hunger for biofuels goes beyond any partisan or environmental agenda and is a matter of national surety . If they get their way in buying biofuels such as one free-base on algae , it wo n’t be cheap to start with . But if account is a guide , I think it will produce market place that finally land down terms , and find a wide range of consumer lotion .
