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Renewable Energy From Algae?

Posted by michael on from the oilent-green dept.

Ravalox writes "With alternate fuel becoming a fairly hot trend in recent months, some academics may have applied their theoretical know-how to give us a practical solution. They offer up the idea that certain types of algae are well-suited to biodiesel production as they are nearly 50 percent oil. The article speculates that large pools could be created to farm out biodiesel from algae in areas near waste streams and salt water. They postulate that to replace our fossil fuel usage it would take only a total of a little over ten thousand square miles, which could fit in an area like the Sonora Desert."

23 of 620 comments (clear)

  1. Got life insurance? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    If this is true, I expect these guys will be involved in a "tragic fatal accident". *cough* Shell *cough* Imperial.

    I wish them luck

    1. Re:Got life insurance? by cshark · · Score: 4, Funny

      Anyone remember KnightRider 2000? They postulated the same thing in the beginning of the movie. They also said it would cause the cost of oil to go down to nothing. Only they predicted Dan Quale would be president. So much for the nostradomous theory. Heh heh.

      --

      This signature has Super Cow Powers

    2. Re:Got life insurance? by squidinkcalligraphy · · Score: 2, Funny

      Oh, and I overheard something about oil and war and that in the Middle East. But apart from those the oil industry is clean.

      --
      "I think it would be a good idea" Gandhi, on Western Civilisation
  2. Alge grows in the desert? by NoDoZ · · Score: 4, Funny

    Alge grows in the desert?

    1. Re:Alge grows in the desert? by Smidge204 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Fish, plankton, sea-greens, and protein from the sea!

      </Obscure reference>
      =Smidge=

  3. In the future Algea powered world... by JoeShmoe950 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Father: Son, why did you drive the car into the pond?!

    Son: I was low and fuel and I decided to look for some algea.

    --
    Help Fight SPAM today!
  4. Hmm. by jpsowin · · Score: 2, Funny

    I can hear the "People for Algae" advocacy groups getting angry already. They're people too!!

  5. just a little genetic engineering by morcheeba · · Score: 5, Funny

    Mix that algae with vinger-producing algae, and then splice these into lettuce. You'll have a salad that dresses itself!

    --
    HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
  6. Finally by mysterious_mark · · Score: 4, Funny

    My swamp land will make me rich!

  7. First Turkey guts, now Algae by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 2, Funny

    At this rate, we'll be able to abandon the middle east in 5 years completely.

    --
    SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
  8. come over to my house by ForestGrump · · Score: 4, Funny

    my pool is green.

    -Grump

    --
    Is it true that more people vote for the winner of American Idol, than vote for the president? -Ali G.
  9. Save our desert! by Takehiko · · Score: 1, Funny

    Just say no to algae!
    Please people, don't let our wonderful natural resources such as this desert be wiped out by greedy algae. Think of the sand!!

  10. Re:Hey! by irokitt · · Score: 5, Funny

    I would be more than happy to donate my pool to the world's energy supply. Damn thing's too hard to clean anyway.

    --
    If my answers frighten you, stop asking scary questions.
  11. Solve two problems at once by Beryllium+Sphere(tm) · · Score: 3, Funny

    If we can get usable energy from pond scum, are spammers now a national resource?

  12. Re:"Only" 10000 square miles? by MedManDC · · Score: 2, Funny

    San Bernardino county in California is 20,000 sq. miles. That's only one county. Take half, we won't mind!

  13. Re:Consider our spectacular lack of foresight... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Good argument, but you forgot to randomly place bold tags around your post.

  14. Re:Contamination by cft_128 · · Score: 4, Funny
    In fact, algae might be a way to re-sequester some of that carbon, by growing large masses of algae then simply burying it deep, somewhere where it will not decay and release CO2 again.

    This also has a cool side benefit - now our descendants 100 million years from now can have their own fossil fuels, conveniently stored underground for them by us!

    --

    Underloved Movies and Pub Quiz: donotquestionme.org

  15. Re:Or we could switch to Hemp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Shooting people is fine, just don't push your left wing, hippie terrorist propoganda on me!

  16. OK. Now we have another problem. by blair1q · · Score: 2, Funny


    What does a 10-thousand-square-mile organism eat to make all this oil? And where would we grow that?

  17. Re:Gulf War II by FrYGuY101 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yeah, Gulf War II happened already. Creepy. I mean, it happened in 1998. *cough*.

    --
    "If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living."

    - Seneca
  18. Re:Hydrogen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    No damage? Algae in high sulfur environments emitting hydrogen is a viable explanation for the loss of substantial Martian h2o reserves.

  19. Re:infrastructure & cottage industry by TheLink · · Score: 2, Funny

    Depending on the vegetable oil used the exhaust fumes could make already obese americans want to eat more fries...

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  20. We had the answer 15 years ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    And it was Sam Kinnison's answer to the starving Ethiopians..... "Don't send them money. SEND THEM LUGGAGE. THEY SHOULD MOVE WHERE THE FOOD IS!"

    Solving the world's problems is too easy.