The Future of Energy #3

As I said inmy last blog, the future of energy is being reshaped and some amazing new technologies are emerging. I am sharing a few of these technologies because they are imaginative and inspiring. They show just how ingenious scientists andentrepreneurscan be when they unite for a common cause. I am no expert, so if you run across something else or have something to add, please comment!

3) Algae to Energy

Colorado's Solix Biofuels plant

Biofuel burns 75% cleaner than petroleum and is seen as one of the most viable clean energy alternatives. But early biofuel experiments have been shown to do far more harm than good. US subsidies to make corn, sugar cane, and palm oil into biofuel created global food scarcity and led to the conversion of forests and grasslands into palm plantations that caused all sorts of problems for the environment. Many reports showed these attempts to actually increase net carbon emissions.

"Second generation" biofuels, such as algae are learning from these mistakes and showing much more capable than theirpredecessors. Algae has some important properties that make it potentially viable: it is the fastest growing plant-like material on the planet, it only needs water, carbon dioxide, and fertilizer to grow, and it acts as a carbon sink by consuming carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen.

There are, however, many problems that proponents are trying still to work out. First, although an unrefined biofuel can run specialist engines such as those on the algae plant, it takes a carbon-intensive process to make the fuel car ready. Secondly, fertilizer is expensive and carbon-intensive. Third, these ponds have to be wide and shallow to ensure maximum sunlightpenetrationwhich requires vast amounts of space. And finally, in practice algae growing has not been as easy or productive as it is in theory meaning that many of the purported benefits have been overstated.

This iscertainlyan interesting concept and the field has recently taken off. It will be fun to see just how much more imaginative they can be in overcoming these obstacles.