Trent (OMEGA) Algae: This a developing OMEGA effort, led by Jonathan Trent of NASA, to make algae biofuel in a renewable energy process that will clean up sewage currently being dumped into the world’s oceans. There is also the potential that electrical power generation could be connected to the fuel production. (OMEGA Algae is still in testing, but is a great example of the looming Win to the Sixth opportunities there for the taking … if we would only choose to seize them.)

via WIN to the Sixth Power.

As part of a project to create alternative sources of energy, researchers at Sandia National Laboratories are cultivating green algae that holds promise as a new supply of biofuel.“People have been growing algae for centuries for food supplements for use by man and animals,” said Cecelia Williams, project lead. “It now has the potential to supply our energy needs too.” Beginning in the 1950s, the Department of Energy recognized algae as a potential feedstock for energy and biofuels and funded the Aquatic Species Program between 1978 and 1996 with $25 million to investigate the production of biofuel from microalgae. DOE terminated the program in the mid-1990s due to low petroleum prices and other priorities. It has only been in the last few years that DOE has once again become interested in algae as a potential source of fuel.Recently Williams and other Sandia researchers have grown green algae in a 12-by-30-foot greenhouse using a simulated dairy effluent, the nutrient-rich liquid remaining after bacterial digestion of dairy manure. The solids from the digestion of dairy manure can potentially be used to develop fertilizer and feed and the liquid serves as a nutrient source for algae. The algae are typically cultured for several days, followed by harvesting and dewatering, after which the algal oil is extracted. The algae produce lipids, the most useful being neutral oil made up largely of triacyglycerides TAG that can be converted to biofuels.

via Turning Algae into Energy.

One way to wean ourselves from oil is to come up with renewable sources of transportation fuel. That means a new generation of biofuels made from nonfood crops.

Researchers are devising ways to turn lumber and crop wastes, garbage and inedible perennials like switchgrass into competitively priced fuels. But the most promising next-generation biofuel comes from algae.

via Technologies That Could Change the Energy Picture – WSJ.com.

Algae

There was a recent Wall Street Journal article about “5 Technologies that could change everything.” One they included was biofuels from Algae. People have been working on this for a long time including a very long government effort. The great thing about algae is that you can grow it in places and with water sources that are completely unsuitable for farming. Algae can be extremely productive. The problem is that the low capital investment systems are less productive and the highly productive, “bio-reactor” approach has a huge capital cost. The good news is that there are enough companies working away on this that sooner or later there might be a break-through. I won’t pretend to be an expert on how this is going, but I have a hunch it will eventually become significant.

via Rehabilitating Bio-Fuels Part 2: Interesting Second Generation Options : Sustainablog.

TODAY, TEAMS of Israeli cleantech scientists and engineers are inventing the tools necessary to make deserts bloom with energy crops while mitigating the worst of the electric power industry’s greenhouse gas emissions. They are combining their cutting-edge knowledge of biochemistry, water management, desert agriculture and solar power to create this new industry.

We believe that algae farming in the US holds the promise of recycling one-fifth of its electric power industry’s greenhouse gas emissions, slashing its need for imported oil by 2 million barrels a day, and spinning off significant quantities of sustainable feed for growing fish and livestock to support the caloric needs of the world’s 6.5 billion people.

And the opportunities are even greater in China.

Algae is one of the world’s fastest-growing plants, and can thrive without fresh water or fertile land. Unlike many other biofuel feedstocks, it would avoid conflict with food production and rain forest conservation. And, of course, algae eat CO2 in vast quantities.

Solar energy turns two tons of CO2 into one ton of algae. And the industry is learning to stand on its own two feet.

As President Obama spoke at the UN, the experimental vehicle Algaeus rolled into New York City. The Algaeus’s 10-day inaugural trek showcased the ability to use today’s automotive technology – hybrid engines and algae-derived energy – to cross North America on 25 gallons of fuel, getting 148 miles per gallon.

The trip served as the capstone to the “Summer of Algae,” when energy giants Exxon Mobil, Pinnacle West and Dow Chemical each teamed up with corporate, university and government scientists to announce the launch of nearly a billion dollars’ worth of algae farming projects. None of this would have been possible without the toolkit developed by Israeli scientists and entrepreneurs.

via Israelis at the forefront of the green industry | Jerusalem Post.

SAN DIEGO, Oct 09, 2009 (North County Times – McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) — NCBH | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating — Just as the Ansari X Prize jump-started private space flight, a North County venture capital firm has started a competition to produce commercially viable fuel from algae.

The Algae Fuel Prize, offered by Del Mar-based Prize Capital, was announced at this week’s Algae Biomass Summit, a meeting in San Diego of experts in using algae for fuel, food, purifying water and other purposes.

The goal is to offer $10 million, the same amount as the Ansari X Prize, said Lee Stein, Prize Capital’s founder.

Stein said the actual amount may change, because the rules and guidelines for the prize aren’t final. But the main goal is fixed, he said, which is to add a new source of fuel and not to compete with food crops, as with ethanol made from corn.

“We want to work with third-generation biofuels: Land that cannot be used for food,” Stein said. “That was our primary concern.”

via NCBH Prize announced for commercial fuel from algae: $10 million incentive modeled after X-Prize for private space flight..

* Commercial biofuel from algae still 7 to 10 years off

* Companies look to gene-based methods for perfect strain

* Others focus on system design to grow algae

By Laura Isensee

SAN DIEGO, Oct 8 (Reuters) – Filling your vehicle’s tank with fuel made from algae is still as much as a decade away, as the emerging industry faces a series of hurdles to find an economical way to make the biofuel commercially.

Estimates on a timeline for a commercial product, and profits, vary from two to 10 years or more.

via Commercial green fuel from algae still years away | Reuters.

Overshadowed by a multibillion-dollar push into other “clean-coal” technologies, a handful of tiny companies are racing to create an even cleaner, greener process using the same slimy stuff that thrives in the world’s oceans.Enter Dr. Berzin, a rocket scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. About three years ago, while working on an experiment for growing algae on the International Space Station, he came up with the idea for using it to clean up power-plant exhaust.

via USATODAY.com – Algae like a breath mint for smokestacks.

Company President Dennis Fisher stated, “The results of the Annual ALGAE Biomass Summit event in San Diego, California last week were just phenomenal. The serious conversations and inquiries concerning BioCentric’s closed loop Photobioreactor system stemmed from leading oil companies to competitors striving to achieve similar manufacturing equipment and technological advances. The relationships and alliances established from this show should place BioCentric in a major growth position by the end of the year. The funding we received this week is from an established “Green” orientated investment group who would like to see the company further enhance the ALGAE reproductive systems both in equipment technological advances and enhanced reproductive methods such as the “Lipid Trigger.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2cc2bGBuvo About BioCentric Energy Holdings BioCentric Energy Holdings, Inc. is dedicated to the development of new technologies as well as acquiring and fostering companies with innovative technologies designed to provide unique and effective green energy solutions for the 21st century. Along with the cultivation of important relationships and partnerships with synergistic entities, BioCentric Energy has devoted substantial time and effort in research and development in order to bring a range of innovative green alternatives to the marketplace. www.biocentricenergy.com

via BEHL,CCTR,CCSE,HRRN,LPIH,MTCH Www.standoutstocks.com: Stocks That Stand Out For Oct. 15th, 2009 Are HRRN, BEHL, CCTR, MTCH, LPIH.

We’ll get back with more.

YouTube -- Danielle Ford of Emerging Green Companies tours the 2009 Algal Biomass Summit.