Algae Farms
John Sheehan, an energy analyst with the (NREL) or National Renewable energy Laboratory, states in an interview with Clayton B Cornell that currently two companies, Solix Biofuels in CO, and Greenfuel Technologies Corp. In Mass. Have successfully purchased enough land and researchers to begin production of Algae farms. The farms could be operational in Oct. 2009 with funding from the Us government. John comments that Algae is the best alternative to oil or fuel due to the fact that algae yields 10,000 gallons of fuel, per acre. That’s 80 times what soybeans and corn produces. Douglas Henston, the CEO of Solix Biofuels, writes that the only current problem with the algae farms, is that CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere are not yet high enough to yield enough for commercial production. Clayton B. Cornell explains that a Polyethylene or (Photobioreactor) bag, will solve this problem. These bags are light controlled and CO2 regulated. The CO2 needed for the Algae growth can be driven from Coal plants or industrial plants. Secretary of the Navy, James Woolsey, concluded, that at present time Ford and GM are both 100% compatible with the algae fuel. He did this by driving an unmodified F450 using solely algal Biodiesel. Fred Tennant in an Associated Press interview, explained, that at present time have the ability to made some Algal Biodiesel, but its cost is roughly 21 dollars a gallon. Dr. John Benemann with the Department of Energy has worked with the International energy Agency said that the technology works but the economics do not. Dr. Benemann continues to say that if the government supported the scientists with more money, they could produce working algae farms in one year, and the production of Algal Biofuels in less than three years, this would save the us government 150 billion dollars in purchasing foreign oils. Without the funding; however, it could take somewhere between 8 to 10 years for the companies to purchase enough...