Green Power
Imagine in a not to distant future, next time you realize your driving close to empty you pull up to a gas station. Instead of pumping your tank full of fossil fuels you’re using algae oils. This may be a closer future than you believe. In less than 10 years cars and anything else which requires gasoline, boats airplanes, electricity generating could be fueled by the bio-fuel created by ordinary pond scum. Using a revolutionary new solar harvesting technique, saving space while increasing surface area exposed to the sun by storing algae vertically instead of on a horizontal plane, Algae is looking like a more viable source of renewable energy.
Believe it or not this is not the first time algae has been looked into as a way to power America. There was research done in the sixties and seventies as to whether or not we should invest in algae green houses, the conclusion was not good for our light loving friends. Up until recently this pond scum was thought to be an inefficient supplier of the oils which they naturally secret and the projects were put on the back shelf. In light of new and innovative ideas a small lab in Texas has had investors allot them five million dollars to see what the potential for this tiny creature truly is.
The possibilities appear enticing. With current technology algae could produce 2000 times more oil than corn per acre per year, and the potential is still rising. Eventually instead of picturing oil platforms or drilling sites as our access to energy the nation could envision giant greenhouses stocked high with green slime. This renewable form of energy could drive down the cost of living while simultaneously help stop the struggle against global warming (a battle we undoubtedly need help fighting).
This is just one of many renewable energy sources the country is currently looking into. Others include the classics, like solar, tidal, wind, and the ever-present hydrogen energy but there a few out of the box ideas like, the burning of sea water the most abundant resource on the planet, which has been found to ignite when exposed to certain radio waves first designed to treat cancer. There are also the farmers which are turning their cow’s waste products into enough energy to power their entire operations. These are just a few creative thoughts in the long growing list of ideas out there.
The energy crisis, combined with the increasing cost of gasoline, both monetary and due to the damage caused to the environment, are causing more and more scientist to look in to the field of alternative resources. With the thousands of options being looked into one will surely be able to replace the granddaddy of energy outdated and hopefully soon to be outmatched, fossil fuels may be a thing of the past. By 2025 scientists are speculating that 25% of the US’s power will come from renewable resources; something I personally believe to be a conservative estimate and encouraging nonetheless.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/04/01/algae.oil/index.html – algae article
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/10/tech/main3246430.shtml – Burning the sea
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1121/p17s01-sten.html – Cow powered Farms
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This seems like a great idea. There have been some ridiculous ideas in the past and there are bound to be more in the future on how to curb Americas appetite for oil. Unfortunately there is no easy solution to this problem and the only way to wean ourselves off of oil is to come up with a number of solutions such as this one and work with them for the time being until we can find a permanent replacement. This does seem like a very promising technique. Ethanol is another great idea however it takes the excess corn stalks that should be used for replenishing the soil which means that more fertilizer is needed to replace the nutrients. Let’s hope that this technique will help us out at least for the time being.
I loved our discussion in class the other day, we had a great talk about nuclear energy vs. solar and wind. I believe nuclear power is the best solution because once it’s there, it’s inexpensive, not very dangerous (knock on wood), and provides a great amount of energy. In terms of cars, we should look to ethenol or something like that, because although this algae oils idea is interesting , I don’t believe that it’ll work. Great blog post.