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The Power of Algae By: Jonathan Bille  |
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 With the soaring price of oil, all attention is on alternative sources of energy, like solar, wind, and hydrogen, but there is another alternative source of energy that isn’t far from being ready for commercial use. That source is algae.
Yes that’s right; the green pond scum that inhabits lakes and ponds across America could very well be the next source of energy to quench our nation’s thirst for power consumption.
Here’s how it works: algae is fairly easy to grow and reproduce, it only needs water, sunlight and carbon dioxide. The algae in turn produces an oil that then can be harvested and converted into a biodiesel, also the algae’s carbohydrate content can be fermented into ethanol, a substance that many cars are equip to use right now.
And algae takes care of another serious problem at the same time it’s solving the energy problem. Because algae needs carbon dioxide, emissions from industrial applications could be captured and used to grow the algae, reducing the amount of carbon that is released into the atmosphere.
It kind of becomes a two for one, we not only would get a very renewable source of energy but we would be dramatically reducing the pollutants from the air that are blamed as the primary cause of Global Warming.
But wait there’s more. Energy production from algae doesn’t require a lot of space or land. It is estimated that if one half of one percent of all the farm land in America were converted into algae farms, that alone could replace all the diesel currently being used in the United Sates.
So what’s the hold up? Why aren’t we using algae power yet?
A couple reasons; the first is the technology is still pretty new and the cost of producing power from algae is more expensive than producing fuel from oil. Second, there is very serious opposition to alternative fuels from traditional energy producers here in this country, so algae farms don’t get the government handouts that big oil gets. But none the less, the work with algae continues.
So how long before we see power produced by algae enter the market place? Unknown? It depends on a combination of political will and public demand. But now that the word on algae is getting around, perhaps the demand for the product will rise. Or we could just keep using oil from the Middle East. It’s our choice.
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