Posted on 07/29/2011 9:38:04 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Genetically modified blue and green algae could be the answer to the world's fuel problems. Bioengineers have already developed algae that produce ethanol, oil and even diesel -- and the only things the organisms need are sunlight, CO2 and seawater.
Biochemist Dan Robertson's living gas stations have the dark-green shimmer of oak leaves and are as tiny as E. coli bacteria. Their genetic material has been fine-tuned by human hands. When light passes through their outer layer, they excrete droplets of fuel.
"We had to fool the organism into doing what I wanted it to do," says Robertson, the head of research at the US biotech firm Joule Unlimited. He proudly waves a test tube filled with a green liquid. The businesslike biochemist works in a plain, functional building on Life Sciences Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
His laboratory is sparsely furnished and the ceiling is crumbling. Nevertheless, something miraculous is happening in the lab, where Robertson and his colleagues are working on nothing less than solving the world's energy problem. They have already created blue algae that produce diesel fuel.
Scientists rave about a new, green revolution. Using genetic engineering and sophisticated breeding and selection methods, biochemists, mainly working in the United States, are transforming blue and green algae into tiny factories for oil, ethanol and diesel.
Betting Millions on Algae
A green algae liquid sloshes back and forth in culture vats and circulates through shiny bioreactors and bulging plastic tubes. The first tests of algae-based fuels are already being conducted in automobiles, ships and aircraft. Investors like the Rockefeller family and Microsoft founder Bill Gates are betting millions on the power of the green soup. "Commercial production of crude oil from algae is the most obvious and most economical possible way to substitute petroleum,"
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
Fact is, we have plenty of energy, but Agenda 21 doesn't want cheap energy.
The purpose of Agenda 21 is to make energy artificially scarce so the price will "skyrocket."
Cheap energy = prosperity for the peasants, and the ruling class wants the peasants to die so they can live in the pristine Walden paradise they dream of.
If they have to kill six or seven billion people to get it, so be it.
(Prolly too much to hope for a president that does what he says he'll do, yet.)
And space. A lot of it.
Here we go again..............
There, fixed it. This researcher must be working on everything these days. His prints are all over modern science as conducted this century.
bookmark
Large, open pools of algae-infested water will lead to an explosion of mosquitos, West Nile virus and a plethora of other “unforeseen” calamities.
Of course, if they can do it without a dime of taxpayer money, great for them.
Now, to generate true wealth and excitement they just need to change their name to Joule Unsubsidized and make fuel for less than Exxon.
Obama’s head COULD split open and a million buttmonkeys could fly out of it.
By comparison, Colorado has 104,185 square miles. Nevada has 110,561. New Mexico has 121,589. Utah has 84,897. Arizona has 113,991 and Texas has 266,833. I mention this because these states have large amounts of arid climates.
You could reasonably take 1,000 square miles from each of six states, turn the desert land into algae farms and replace the oil production for all of the United States.
One problem is the cost to build the vertical algae tubes. It is about $800,000 per acre. With one square mile being 640 acres, the price just to build is $512 M per square mile. One could argue that for $600 Billion (less than TARP) the government could have created it's own oil factory. Selling of the oil on the open market would have cut fuel prices, created a revenue generating enterprise for the government. For the amount contained in the stimulus program, would could have had two such “farms”.
The other two major problems are where to get all of the CO2 required and the amount of power required to run the pumps, drying equipment, presses, etc. The best answer I have see so far would be to put in coal plants to provide electricity and then take the gases from the coal plants and use that as the CO2 supply.
I’d pay several 100 FRN’s to see that.
Bio-warfare wipes out our colony of algae. We’ve beat all of our drilling equipment into plowshares. Crud, now what?
I’m not against it, it just needs to be decentralized if possible.
I remember the Mother earth news article with the truck they had modified with a wood gas unit in the back.
I remember the Mother earth news article with the truck they had modified with a wood gas unit in the back.
There are many different ones now and they are a lot easier to make also. Several countries used them in WWII.
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