Cool Stuff

I was reading an article in this months Popular Science magazine about a company called Solix Biofuels which grows algae and then separates the fat from the algae, and then produces biodiesel. The company is stationed in Ft. Collins, CO and actually works closely with the New Belgium Brewing Company! Solix imagines fields of algae growing in tubs and then, when the algae has been fattened up, they break it apart and make biodiesel. One of the most fascinating facts they present is that for the U.S. to be self sufficient in producing enough biodiesel to replace its petroleum needs we would need to produce 140 billion gallons of fuel. It would take 3 BILLION acres of fertile land to produce that much soybeans, or 1 BILLION acres to produce that amount in canola. The U.S. only has 434 million acres of cropland, not nearly enough for soybeans or canola. However, to produce 140 billion gallons of biodiesel from algae we would only need 95 million acres. And since the basic ingredients are water, air, and sunlight an algae farm can be sustained in environments where a traditional farm would fail, such as the Arizona desert. It's a cool technology, and one that I hope takes off. Completely renewable, and possibly a great intermediary step between fossil fuels and some other fuel like nitrogen or electric power.