Quote:
Originally Posted by August
So it's not like biodiesel then where we're having to make the choice between using crops for food or fuel?
|
Yes. What you (in theory) need is a large pool of water for growing algae therefore you can put it into middle of desert if necessary. What will be biggest problem in growing algae is need for sunlight which means that pools must be quite large in surface area you can not just dig deeper hole for it. Another trouble maker is availability of water. Propably most practical solution would be to locate growing pools in seaside location so that seawater can be directed to pools as necessary.
I don't know what exact needs for growing are they vary highly because there are a lot different algae species with different needs. If we consider only sunlight and water need and in my opinion important thing - putting it somewhere else but Middle East - then two of my favourite locations would be coastal areas of California, USA and southern coastal areas of Spain.
All above is in theory. How it will work have to be seen but I
really hope that this will work and we will get it relatively soon.
EDIT: EADS has already flown algae fuel powered helicopter so the questions is no longer "can you do it" but "can you do it at commercially viable cost"? I hope that EADS and its competitors in this field can make industrial scale production feasible.
EDIT#2: I don't know for sure but I'm worried that biggest problem is not in efficiency of growing algae but in efficiency of processing it to fuel usable in cars, aircrafts and so on.