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"Indonesia has bulldozed and burned so much wilderness to grow palm oil trees for biodiesel that its ranking among the world's top carbon emitters has surged from 21st to third according to a report by Wetlands International. Malaysia is converting forests into palm oil farms so rapidly that it's running out of uncultivated land. But most of the damage created by biofuels will be less direct and less obvious. In Brazil, for instance, only a tiny portion of the Amazon is being torn down to grow the sugarcane that fuels most Brazilian cars. More deforestation results from a chain reaction so vast it's subtle: U.S. farmers are selling one-fifth of their corn to ethanol production, so U.S. soybean farmers are switching to corn, so Brazilian soybean farmers are expanding into cattle pastures, so Brazilian cattlemen are displaced to the Amazon. It's the remorseless economics of commodities markets. "The price of soybeans goes up," laments Sandro Menezes, a biologist with Conservation International in Brazil, "and the forest comes down."" (Time mag)
Fields of Fuel
Josh Tickell's fim on biodiesel, "Fields of Fuel" is causing a stir at the Sundance Festival, where it has won the Audience Award. Here is the
Sundance Fields of Fuel blog
"Soybeans and canola are typically grown for oil, but the best canolas only yield between 150 and 200 gallons of oil per acre per year, and soybeans about 100 gallons... Algae, conservatively, can produce about 4,000 gallons per acre per year, if not more, and it doesn't displace food crops for fuel." (story)
Algae: Not Only The Best Biofuel By Far...
More photos in new window: (Algae Machine) (Algae Machine 1, 2) (Oil Output) (The Kids of LGI 1, 2, 3)
Agro-industry profits and government subsidies to politically important constituencies
have spurred the boom in biofuels as a substitute for petroleum; essentially all current commercial biofuel production is from corn, soybean, palm oil, or sugar beet and cane. In the last few months however, the wisdom of this approach has been questioned by a series of alarming studies concluding that the biofuels revolution is doing way more harm than good: more greenhouse gases, the wholesale destruction of natural carbon-absorbing ecosystems, soil and habitat destruction, growing displacement of food and feed production resulting in spiraling food prices and bread riots in the developing world. Time magazine's cover last week (European edition) displayed an ear of corn with the headline "The Clean Energy Myth"... inside the magazine, the article was titled less generously: "The Clean Energy Scam". Here's the take-away line: "The grain it takes to fill an SUV tank with ethanol could feed a person for a year."
There is an alternative though: biofuels from algae, the growing of which- for example in dry regions even with briny water supply- does not displace food farming. For the algae-culture projects which use large growing ponds, the potential biodiesel production per acre is 30 to 100 times greater than obtainable with corn, soy and palm oil. However the most efficient systems, called photo-bioreactors, stack clear tubes of water with algae in the sun, requiring very little acreage for significant production. This is the system we are demonstrating at Ecoversity.
The oil derived from the pressed algae is wonderfully pure, and can be purposed to cosmetological and food uses as well as biodiesel; the pressed algae becomes protein or spirulina cake, suitable for feed and food.
Those are the basics- there are variables in the process to explore- each stage in the process can be done in different ways; also, there are hundreds of potentially useable species of single-cell algae, with slightly different growth properties. (Back in 1978, the US government initiated a survey of the relevant algae species for open pond production with a view already to future fuel production*.)
In the future, large scale algae-culture plants may attach directly to major polluters such as power plants, providing CO2 sequestration, and sewage facilities, providing water purification. (The CO2 and sewage water are nutrients for the algae production.)
But algae-culture holds the further promise of the potential of small-scale localized systems for food production as well as fuel production. There's no quicker way to produce food from sunlight, and the time may soon be coming to many parts of the world where food for humans becomes more a more urgent concern than the production of fuel.
- SM
*[Aquatic Species Program, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and discontinued in 1996. Incomplete, but still the reference source for this info]
Problem: Feed-based Biofuels a Greenhouse Threat Land-use change left out of prior analysis
"Almost all biofuels used today cause more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fuels if the full emissions costs of producing these "green" fuels are taken into account..."... two new reports... story, NYT | discussion, mp3 podcast
SciAm: Biofuels Are Bad for Feeding People and Combating Climate Change (article)
CNN: "Deforestation Diesel"
Solution: Oil From Algae
"...The momentum behind algae has grown tremendously since [last year]. New companies, new methods, and a changing landscape indicate that biofuel from algae is poised to play a larger role..." This article from WolrdChanging.com is a good description of the engineering involved, a survey of technologies and plans, and a who's who of current algaefuel production and development. (story)
MSNBC:
Algae truly a 'green' energy source
PESWiki Directory: Biodiesel from Algae Oil
Pure Energy Systems' dedicated wiki on Algae biofuel: the basics, company listings, news updates. PESWiki:Algae
Algae at Work
A2BE Carbon Capture LLC is one of many companies moving into this field. Here is their website And here is a YouTube video from another player, Solix Labs.
Algae, Especially for the Southwest
Algae: Huge Potential for Algae Biofuel
"It is possible to sequester as much as one billion tons of CO2 per year from algae farms in lands not useful for any other purpose in the Southwestern United States alone..."
story, ENS | Download Energy Dept Report
Biodiesel might provide new industrial niche for New Mexico
"Local producers could supply a substantial part of the national biodiesel market," Lynn said. "We're very close to finalizing algae-based oil-production techniques that can be employed on an industrial scale... It sounds strange to grow algae in the desert, but algae grows best with a lot of sun and saline water, and New Mexico has a lot of both"- Tom Bowles, science advisor to Gov. Bill RichardsonNew Mexico Business Weekly
Saturday April 26th: Special Earth-Day Event at Ecoversity
Fuel and Food From Algae: a Practical Demonstration
Alfonz Viszolay and his crew of enterprising and brilliant kids (Leonardo and Alexandria of LG International, pictured above) will present a biofuel-producing living algae machine at Ecoversity on Saturday April 26 for Earthday. They will introduce us to the principles and techniques of algae farming for carbon sequestration and the production of biofuel, oils, and protein cakes. Taste and touch a hopeful and positive future of decentralized, abundant energy!
For students of environmental engineering and alternative energy sourcing, this is a must-see event. In ecoversity's classroom we will display and demonstrate a working model of the Algae Machine with illuminating explanations given by Alfonz's crew . Outside we will have a much larger prototype living algae machine with the algae growing in long plastic tubes, a technology invented and developed by Mr. Viszolay, a Hungarian-born engineer and inventor, who has done many environmental remediation projects for large corporations.
Ecoversity feels honored to host Mr. Viszolay and his young crew and such an important experiment in clean and decentralized energy production, and we invite everyone to participate in this important transmission of information and knowledge.
Watch a movie of the Algae Machine demonstration
with Viszolay, and Alexandria and Leonardo of LGI.
Watch a slideshow of the set up of the Algae Machine.
Watch a slideshow of the Earth Day 2008 celebrations at Ecoversity, including the presentation of the Algae Machine.
Here is a player with all of these gathered together.
Stumble It!
"The grain it takes to fill an SUV tank with ethanol could feed a person for a year."
(see below for an example of the alternative.)
Related links and resources
Has the Algae Cavalry Arrived?
OilDrum.com discussion of the algae biofuel alternative (article and forum)
Rate of Amazon Destruction Up Sharply at End 2007
New wave of destruction as demand increases for [feed-based] biofuels... (story)
Rense: Biofuels- The Hidden Agenda
Wheat Shortage, Skyrocketing Prices Threaten Bakers
Wheat flour has more than tripled in price since August 07; wheat supply is at 1947 levels; Band of Bakers to march on Washington...
(story)
Starving for Ethanol: Bread Riots Break Out In Egypt, Yemen.
Virgin Atlantic will fly the first partially biofueled transatlantic flight in April.
EarthRace: EarthRace, new fastest boat in the world, is entirely biofuelled (story and pics)
Global Warming is a "Total Crock of Shit"
General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz called global warming "a total crock of shit" in a January closed-door meeting with journalists (ref). Less than a month later, GM declared the biggest annual loss ever for a US auto company, $38.7 billion- a little over $106 million per day. (ref)
Wikipedia articles:
Biofuels | Algae biofuel |
Algaculture
