Comments on: Algae Could Prove to Be The Best Biofuel http://www.greenstrides.com/2008/04/01/algae-could-prove-to-be-the-best-biofuel/ going green one step at a time Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:28:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.3 By: Vanessa http://www.greenstrides.com/2008/04/01/algae-could-prove-to-be-the-best-biofuel/comment-page-1/#comment-994 Vanessa Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:04:36 +0000 http://www.greenstrides.com/2008/04/01/algae-could-prove-to-be-the-best-biofuel/#comment-994 Though research into algae oil as a source for biodiesel is not new, the current oil crises force us to find a solution at the earliest. The stats that you have mentioned in the post are really impressive. Hope the research process yields successful results to ensure a smooth ride in the future. Vanessa@<a href="http://www.engineeringservicesoutsourcing.com/b/fe/labels/Energy-Environment-Engineering.html" rel="nofollow"> Future of Engineering Blog </a> Though research into algae oil as a source for biodiesel is not new, the current oil crises force us to find a solution at the earliest. The stats that you have mentioned in the post are really impressive. Hope the research process yields successful results to ensure a smooth ride in the future.
Vanessa@ Future of Engineering Blog

]]> By: joseph http://www.greenstrides.com/2008/04/01/algae-could-prove-to-be-the-best-biofuel/comment-page-1/#comment-961 joseph Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:36:02 +0000 http://www.greenstrides.com/2008/04/01/algae-could-prove-to-be-the-best-biofuel/#comment-961 Some of this company's other initiatives are equally interesting. Supposedly, their vegetable growing system can increase yields / acre by a factor of 20 utilizing 5% of the water of regular growing techniques. Some of what I've been able to piece together is located here: http://vertigro2day.blogspot.com/ Some of this company’s other initiatives are equally interesting. Supposedly, their vegetable growing system can increase yields / acre by a factor of 20 utilizing 5% of the water of regular growing techniques.

Some of what I’ve been able to piece together is located here:

http://vertigro2day.blogspot.com/

]]> By: Kevin http://www.greenstrides.com/2008/04/01/algae-could-prove-to-be-the-best-biofuel/comment-page-1/#comment-951 Kevin Wed, 02 Apr 2008 21:58:17 +0000 http://www.greenstrides.com/2008/04/01/algae-could-prove-to-be-the-best-biofuel/#comment-951 Chris, burning biofuel does not negatively impact the environment. Burning gasoline does because it comes from deep within the Earth where its carbon and chemicals have been sequestered for millions of years. When we burn gasoline we add pollutants to the atmosphere. But because biofuel gets its carbon from within our environment it is environmentally neutral and represents what we call a “closed carbon loop”, both adding and subtracting greenhouse gases from the atmosphere with no additive effect. Biofuel lacks the concern of burning raw cellulose such as wood and peat because it burns extremely efficiently and there is no smoke or ash. So the mere act of burning fuel is not the issue. The issue with biofuel has been with methods of production which can indeed be quite harmful to the environment. Traditional biofuel crops such as cane, switch grass, corn etc. require enormous amounts of land to grow and large amounts of energy to process. There are still places in the world where entire forests are being destroyed in order to grow more of these crops. Often fossil fuels are used in the heavy machinery required to manage and harvest these crops practically defeating the purpose altogether. But please know that there are ways to reduce and even the negative impact of production. Biofuel from algae grown in compact vertical farms requires hundreds of times less land than conventional crops. Harvesting is vastly more efficient because it is continuously siphoned off as opposed to requiring heavy machinery. So even if fossil fuels were used in any part of this process the negative impact would already be significantly reduced. Replace any remaining fossil fuel with biofuel and the negative impact is virtually eliminated. Chris, burning biofuel does not negatively impact the environment. Burning gasoline does because it comes from deep within the Earth where its carbon and chemicals have been sequestered for millions of years. When we burn gasoline we add pollutants to the atmosphere. But because biofuel gets its carbon from within our environment it is environmentally neutral and represents what we call a “closed carbon loop”, both adding and subtracting greenhouse gases from the atmosphere with no additive effect. Biofuel lacks the concern of burning raw cellulose such as wood and peat because it burns extremely efficiently and there is no smoke or ash. So the mere act of burning fuel is not the issue.

The issue with biofuel has been with methods of production which can indeed be quite harmful to the environment. Traditional biofuel crops such as cane, switch grass, corn etc. require enormous amounts of land to grow and large amounts of energy to process. There are still places in the world where entire forests are being destroyed in order to grow more of these crops. Often fossil fuels are used in the heavy machinery required to manage and harvest these crops practically defeating the purpose altogether. But please know that there are ways to reduce and even the negative impact of production.

Biofuel from algae grown in compact vertical farms requires hundreds of times less land than conventional crops. Harvesting is vastly more efficient because it is continuously siphoned off as opposed to requiring heavy machinery. So even if fossil fuels were used in any part of this process the negative impact would already be significantly reduced. Replace any remaining fossil fuel with biofuel and the negative impact is virtually eliminated.

]]> By: Chris http://www.greenstrides.com/2008/04/01/algae-could-prove-to-be-the-best-biofuel/comment-page-1/#comment-947 Chris Tue, 01 Apr 2008 19:47:33 +0000 http://www.greenstrides.com/2008/04/01/algae-could-prove-to-be-the-best-biofuel/#comment-947 This isn't green - this is perpetuating an obsession with creating fuels that burn. Why miss the "big picture" - why use energy to harvest algae and then more energy to create a flamable fuel from their oil, when the oceans over a perpetual source of motion just begging engineers to use new technologies to harvest electricity from it. Hence, decreasing our dependence on oil or coal-based fuels. Folks - big picture - lift your heads from the algae in the water and look at the water that covers most of the globe. This isn’t green – this is perpetuating an obsession with creating fuels that burn. Why miss the “big picture” – why use energy to harvest algae and then more energy to create a flamable fuel from their oil, when the oceans over a perpetual source of motion just begging engineers to use new technologies to harvest electricity from it. Hence, decreasing our dependence on oil or coal-based fuels. Folks – big picture – lift your heads from the algae in the water and look at the water that covers most of the globe.

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