Algae as Fuel

Well, I've seen a show on Discovery channel, which introduced the basics of using algae for producing fuel. It was stated that it would be required ca 1/8 or 1/4 of Texas state area to create farms large enough to produce fuel for the whole USA. It's actually amazing, because these farms can be created on desolated areas, the fertility of the soil plays no role here. Algae do not require anything else but light and water. Still scientists are having problems with extracting the fuel effectively from algae cells, so currently the research is being conducted on new methods of extraction. I support such developments, because green fuel produced from algae can solve our energy problems, we would have a chance to leave fossil fuels and start to produce fuels from renewable sources.

I think algae is a great choice to make biofuel, it won't impact the food crops and is otherwise just considered "trash." hey, a harvest of pond scum sounds good to me - know a few people are about that level...

I have a friend here, at mylot, Baluyadav from India, who works with a certain kind of plant that grows there to use as biofuel. I found very interesting the posts where he explained me this. anyway, I hope we canconsume less fuel and use more biofuel in the future. The damage thatnormal fuel is doing to the planet is a shame.

Algae is a much better choice than corn for creating fuel. The production is cheaper and the yields can be very high. Basically, you grow pond scum, skim it off the water, squeeze the rest of the water out if it, and ship it to the refinery. In warm southern climates, it can be grown in outdoor ponds. In northern climes, a greenhouse environment will allow year-round operation. By the way, the term "biofuel" is really a misnomer, as all petroleum has a biological origin.