JUN 13

Replace the current 'convention' run inefficient rail system with an ultra light fast containerized commodities system, Run it on coal on long hauls outside cities, Give bio-Diesel to the turbo bio-diesel hybrid electric plug in commuters and ban anything larger than 2000 cc's for piston engines of any kind, outright! It doesn't make any sense to use a huge transport truck to deliver less that 10,000 pound loads, but we are in that habit from the good old days of cheap oil! Convulsive changes are upon us! We will live or die by what faces us. we will innovate or cease to exist as a strong nation.

@Uncle B: Coal has absolutely no future. It's the worst fuel we've ever discovered. Mining it in West Virginia by exploding moutains and filling in valleys with rock and slurry to burning and releasing enormous amounts of C02 into the atmosphere, there's no way that can be good, even with sequestering the carbon.

They always say algae can produce thousands of gallons per acre of fuel and yet they still cant even make it affordable. What the hecks up with that.

is there anyone in the world producing oil from algae on a commercial scale. Every company doing algae oil is not in the oil making business but the patent/ipo business. All such companies eventually failedfor the same reason, its not high science/tech, a photo bioreactor can be a plastic bag. the theory looks good but not one is trying it on a large scale to actuall produce the oil. I think we have to wait for the oil companies to do this if its possible on a large scale outside of the lab. Patent trolling isnt going ot get us there. if there was a simple way to seperate algae from the water and then extract the oil we would be home free but there isnt. There dosent appear to be a home brew path into algae oil.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has set a goal to validate a high quality feedstock supply of cellulosic biomass of 130 million dry tons p/ year by 2012 and 250 million dry tons p/year by 2017. *1

The DOE has set target goals for feedstock costs (i.e. harvesting, storage, preprocessing and transportation excluding the cost paid for biomass) of $0.37 per gallon in 2012 and $0.33 per gallon in 2017.

Of the 245 million tons of waste generated annually in the United States, at least 50% is cellulosic biomass, representing a potential source of 120 million tons of feedstock per year.

The nation's and world's appetite for such a system is almost unlimited. Americans produce 4.4 pounds of waste per person per day, or 229 million1 tons annually nationwide. At the estimated conversion rate of these technologies of 52 gallons of ethanol per ton of garbage, this MSW represents a potential fuel source of over 6.5 billion gallons of ethanol per year. Current annual targets of both the Administration and Congress for future domestic ethanol production are about 35 billion gallons, and CleanTech's system will help the U.S. meet this goal.

Aurora Venture Communications Group is now featuring an online webcast audio interview with Mr. Michael Kime, COO of CleanTech Biofuels, Inc., who also Co-Wrote and Co-Produced the award winning feature documentary, “Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore”. The interview covers a range of topics including Mr. Kime's personal insights into the conflux of environmental and political forces that are driving the market and the media's interest in waste-to-energy technology. The interview can be found online at: http://www.avcg.net/CLTH.

CEO of CleanTech Biofuels, Inc., Edward Hennessey, commented: “As ethanol production from food crops has exploded in recent years, there are increasing concerns over the amount of arable land once used for food production being displaced for energy crops. Additionally, concerns have been raised regarding the energy and pollution balance of other methods of ethanol production. Consequently our business model which leverages the existing infrastructure for municipal solid waste collection and disposal to collect biomass at a low or negative feedstock cost is beginning to receive the recognition we feel it deserves.”

Hennessey further stated: “We believe that we will achieve profitability quickly relative to other cellulosic ethanol producers who must develop their infrastructure to collect and transport more expensive feedstocks such as switchgrass, wood waste, or corn stover. Moreover, biomass derived from garbage should not be subject to increases in commodity prices that plague producers currently manufacturing ethanol from corn.”

Joe... On April 1, 2008, PetroSun began its algae-to-biodiesel facility. They are the first to produce commercially.

http://gas2.org/2008/03/29/first-algae-biodiesel-plant-goes-online-april-1-2008/

If there are impatient and anxious emotions behind your words then I'm totally there with you. Algae oil is the way to go and I just cannot wait for the stuff. But, I want oil companies to keep their profit rich hands as far away as possible. It's too bad that Chevron and Solazyme are in bed together. The more control the oil companies have over algae oil, the more we will have to wait for them to decide when it goes into my tank. And trust me, they will make $$millions/billions more from me and you while we wait. From what I read, investment capital is ripe and ready to flood into this new market sector...the "Green Chip" sector. As long as the oil companies stay out of it, algae oil will be in our tanks by next year or 2010!

Who are you to dictate what engine size is suitable, and which ones should not be used? Just because you don't wish to have large engines is no reason to tell others what they must or must not be allowed to use.
Why cap it at 2 liters? With proper gearing, a 1.3L engine will also do just fine.
Personally, I'll keep my big 7.3L powerstroke -an engine that has to work less to do a job will last far longer than one that has to give its heart and soul just to move.

I've seen PetroSun site before, there is more info on their investor relation screen than their product and services page, which happens to be blank. I've seen the Google maps of their ponds but have not seen any data of their results. Like if the yields per acre predicted by the Vertigro guy as being 20,000 gallons per acre per year is close to reality. I don’t care if the oil fat cats get into algae because they have the cash to make it happen and they can’t control and keep for themselves the act of growing algae and turning it into oil. Doing things on a massive scale can’t always be managed by the small fry companies.

Here's the problem. About the time you and I put investment capital into this, the price of oil will "tank" and there will be no need for algae, solar collectors, or wind turbines. I remember telling clients, in 1998, that the price of oil and gasoline was lower, adjusted for inflation, than before the 1973 oil embargo. In 1972 you could buy gasoline for $0.30 per gallon and heating oil for $0.18 per gallon. We need to find a way to protect investment capital from the manipulation of the energy markets, but, Government is inept. If you ask me - the number one problem the USA faces - it's inefficiency and ineptness of our Governments - and some people want Government to run everything.

The leap from lab scale to mega plant algae creation of biofuel may well be problematic, however, it may be possible to use distributed small manufacturing sites to generate sufficient fuel and reduce transportation cost.

Limiting truck transportation may work in urban areas, however, for much of the mid-USA trucks will persist. Perhaps in the future hybrid power will come to the trucking industry, probably not soon. In addition to the freight industry one has to consider the myriad of pickups used by building/landscape contractors who carry heavy loads and pull trailers full of equipment- not on 2 liter engines

I want to make that Algae Diesel here on my place.
Can somebody send me to the right place to get started.
Email me, please. :)

I'm not sure what to make of all this. I saw a very interesting presentation on youtube by the director of EBI at UC Berkley, and he was asked about the suitability of algae. He said that they had studied it, and had concluded that it was not economically feasible, as the energy yield was only about 2 watts per square meter. I have done some quick estimates, and I get about 7 watts per square meter (assuming 6000 gallons of diesel per acre), vs. about 1 watt per square meter for cellulosic ethanol. I can only assume that the cost per acre of producing diesel from algae is very high. Otherwise, I don't know what to think.

I am 100% behind this, I just doubt we can do at the volume we need to make a difference. let's think "displace crude". I sure hope it can though.

Joe/Kmartin, I'm in the same boat. It seems group after group repeats the same lab testing. Then PetroSUn and Chevron are in it... Don't forget oil companies have and will continue to buy petroleum alternatives just to stop their development. Exxon mobile bought the rights to car-size batteries and effectively delayed hybrid vehicles for years.

If this becomes commercially viable, then the economic pressure to make it cheaper to get the burnable hydrocarbons leads to one thing. Algae that actually excretes the stuff directly.

And has anyone really thought through what happens when (not if) that stuff gets into the environment?

Consider a world where this wonder algae is loose in the oceans, or waterways, excreting hydrocarbons fatal to all other life around it. It would be quite successful as organisms go, particularly if it fed on dead matter.

It would also be an ecological disaster that would make any oil spill pale in comparison.

Of course we can depend on the company that develops this to be nice and responsible forever and to put the proper safeguards in place (And if you believe that, I've got a bridge to sell you...).

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