I think he’s right...
But it’s going to be a long time before they actually can make it economical.
They need to focus on developing an algae strain that can produce the necessary lipids at low cost.
Biodiesel from algae may be viable. Here is a quote from an article on Shell’s venture:
“Shell bets on algae to make biodiesel
By Ed Crooks
Published: December 12 2007 02:00 | Last updated: December 12 2007 02:00
Royal Dutch Shell hopes to build a commercial plant producing biodiesel from algae in two years’ time, following the launch yesterday of a joint venture to develop a research project in Hawaii.
The joint venture, with Hawaii-based HR Biopetroleum, will initially build a small research plant but hopes to move to a full-scale commercial plant of 20,000 hectares. Shell said it expected yields of about 60 tonnes of oil per hectare a year, meaning a full-scale plant would produce 1.2m tonnes of oil a year.
The two companies did not reveal the size of the investment, but Shell will have a majority stake in the company, called Cellana.
Shell has held back from production of first-generation biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel from vegetable oil, focusing on second-generation fuels that can be produced from non-food plants or plant waste. It has argued that government support for biofuels ought to give greater incentives to second-generation products on the grounds they are likely to have much better environmental performance, particularly in cutting carbon dioxide emissions.”
Link http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0c2d084a-a857-11dc-9485-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1