Category: Environment

Algae Isn’t All Smoke and Mirrors

I’m sure everyone is aware of the amazing properties of algae. Prepare to gain newfound respect for our small flora, they could be the next biodiesel crops. Fed a generous helping of CO2-laden emissions, lets say ……. courtesy of a power plant’s exhaust stack, the algae cleans the exhaust and grows at phenominal rates. After the CO2 is soaked up like a sponge, the algae is harvested daily. From that harvest, a combustible vegetable oil is squeezed out i.e. biodiesel for automobiles. Additionally the exhaust contains 40 percent less CO2 (a larger cut than the Kyoto treaty mandates) and another bonus, 86 percent less nitrous oxides. What a little workhorse.

Creater, Berzin of MIT calculates the biodiesel crop potential at 15,000 gallons per acre. To put that in perspective soybeans (currently the major source of biodiesel fuels) produce just 60 gallons per acre. Berzin isnt alone in the algae-to-oil race. Competiator (yes people compete over this stuff) Greenshift Corporation, a Mount Arlington, N.J., technology incubator company, licensed CO2-gobbling algae technology that uses a screen-like algal filter. It was developed by David Bayless, a researcher at Ohio University. One can only hope more competing algae will result in good things.

New York State Governor Wants Different Gas

oilGovernor George E. Pataki wants to help New Yorkers get more choice when it comes to what they put in their fuel tank. The Governor wants to reduce the state’s reliance on petroleum by getting biodiesel and ethanol to be distributed at petroleum stations that already exist in the state, as early as this year.

His budget plan also aims to encourage research and development of alternative fuels.

Sea the Power

The planet’s seas come in different shapes and sizes, and notably, they have different levels of temperatures in each one. Now a company, Sea Solar Power Inc., is researching a way to use the power of the sun heating the ocean to power our civilization. They plan to put specialized ships around the equator that can generate energy from using what is basically a heat transfer.

The temperature difference form the surface of the sea to low depths is enough to power vapour turbines.

Not Wasting Waste

Bangladesh’s capital city, Dhaka, the garbage is piling up in the streets and sewers, and that’s a good thing. A small company has started to use the methane created by the city’s organic waste and turning it into energy.

“By converting trash into organic fertilizer, they reasoned, small communities could sell it to farmers desperate for an alternative to soil-stripping chemicals. This would help clean city streets, increase crop yields and provide the urban poor with a steady stream of revenue.”