Algae biofuel, are we getting closer?
May 30, 2008
It’s possible that the green slime we try to eradicate from our fish ponds could be the answer to our fuel problems. As it dawns on the world that biofuels made from food products are not really such a hot idea, scientists have quietly been studying algae as the next biofuel.
Not only does algae grow pretty much anywhere-from sewage sludge to fresh or salt water, it has a theoretical yield of several times that of corn with a lower processing cost. A 2004 study at University of New Hampshire concluded that all the transportation fuels in the United States could be supplied by algae grown on about 3% of the U.S. land devoted to farming crops and grazing for animals.
Pipe dream? Some say so. There has been a lot of hype over algae based biofuel, and a lot of money is being invested, but whether it’s a scalable alternative is yet to be proven. Arizona based GreenFuel is one of the leaders in the field. Their idea is to pump the CO2 emissions from coal plants into the GrenFuel bioreactors where the algae would eat the emissions as food. The algae is then processed and the biofuel extracted.
Aurora BioFuels in Alameda California is using genetically modified algae to create a high oil content and can create “bio-diesel with 125X higher yields and 50% lower costs than current production methods”.
But when genetic modification rears it’s ugly head -especially near the fragile San Francisco bay’s ecosystem- people may not be so enthused. Another start-up, Green Star, is enhancing production with nutrients, claiming they
If you’re interested in learning more as progress crawls forward, check out the Algae Biomass Summit
to be held in Seattle in October.
Buy Organic
May 30, 2008
Organic agriculture works for a healthy balance of the soil, including using crop rotation and other techniques to improve soil fertility, instead of controlling the environment with chemicals. The animals are not fed food containing pesticides, and so the amount of persistent pesticides in their fat is reduced.
Slimy green gold? Algae biofuels
May 30, 2008
Buy Locally
May 26, 2008
The average American foodstuff travels an estimated 1,500 miles before being consumed.
Outdoor lighting
May 24, 2008
Recently, we upgraded our landscaping to more drought resistant plants. We did a lot of research online on Xeriscaping and intend to expand that to the rest of our yard over the next couple of years. To show off our lovely plants we wanted to install lighting, but not to lay conduit or to waste electricity. We found these
solar flood lights
These particular lights can be wall or fence mounted, so you can get several angles, but there are also stake mounted options that we used around the base of the native grasses that really highlight them well.
Installation took minutes, a little bit of fiddling with them at night to get the angles just right, and we never have to worry about ‘em again. I have to mention that we bought the first set at a local hardware store, then went online and found the best deals at Amazon. Even with shipping we saved quite a bit.
Use video conferencing
May 24, 2008
Next time you need to have a meeting out of town, decide if you could do it by video conference instead.
Affordable Solar? It’s done with Mirrors
May 22, 2008
Don’t buy that bottled water.
May 21, 2008
Install an under the sink or whole house water filter. Your skin will thank you for it.
Freegans
May 20, 2008
What is the inspiration for Freegans? Here’s an easy to grasp description.
Lose the plastic
May 20, 2008
Lose the case of plastic water bottles and styro-foam cups. Bring your own mug and water bottle to the office to refill.
A new use for Batteries
May 18, 2008
We’re going to have to be creative if we are going to slow down the destruction , EcoGeek tells us about 3 Brazilian students who are using their heads to find new uses for batteries. Camila da Silva Bruzadelli, Alan Juliano de Andrade and Deborah Asbahr, of Limeira, Brazil, discovered that the metals in batteries can be used to color ceramics. The batteries are disassembled and the metals removed, then processed to release the metal oxides, which can then be used as colorants.
Another innovator, Chen; Kuo-Chun (Encinitas, CA), has a patent for his process of extracting rare earth metals for ceramic colorants.
In the US alone, we use nearly 3 billion dry-cell batteries every year to power our tools and toys. It would be fantastic to find a way to re-use them for something constructive rather than dumping toxic metals in the landfill. In the meantime, find out where you can recycle batteries, for your home or your business, check out BatteryRecycling.com.
Why Recycle?
May 18, 2008
4th and 5th graders explain how they tell people about recycling.
DIY WAve Generated power
May 18, 2008
Re-use those printer cartidges
May 17, 2008
According to Office Depot, each re-manufactured toner cartridge keeps approximately 2.5 pounds of metal and plastic out of landfills…and conserves about a half gallon of oil.
Green your printer use
May 17, 2008
Look for chlorine free and re-cycled paper products, and think about using thinner paper for daily work. Use reconditioned printer cartridges.
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