This was what I read earlier today:"As of this week, a diesel fuel mix of 20% algae and 80% petroleum is available at four gas stations in Redwood City, San Jose, Berkeley, and Oakland. Drivers can fill up at designated Propel Clean Fuel Points (alternative fuel stations often located inside traditional gas stations). The algae comes from Solazyme, a renewable algae oil company that is also making inroads in the cosmetics and food industries.

In addition to just cutting down on petroleum use, Solazyme claims that its fuel, which reportedly costs just under $4.25 per gallon (the average diesel fuel price in the Bay Area) at the Redwood City location, reduces particulate by 30%, CO2 by 20%, and total hydrocarbon emissions by 10%."

http://www.fastcoexist.com/1680909/now-at-your-local-gas-pump-algae-oil

Can some one find out if this is yet another nice PR spin or if Solazyme has become the first company in the world to find the "secret sauce" that can make cheap algae oil commercially? If I remember right, they use sugar as the base for heterotrophic growth...dunno if they still follow the same concept...

in Algae Fuels

Thus goes the first lines of a report..."It looks like Mother Nature was wasting her time with a multimillion-year process to produce crude oil. Michigan Engineering researchers can "pressure-cook" algae for as little as a minute and transform an unprecedented 65 percent of the green slime into biocrude" ( http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/videos/2012/11/pressure-cooker-turns-algae-fuel )

Trust journalists to make a Mickey Mouse look like the Universal Saviour. Of course my grandfather could have been the Prime Minister of India, it is just that he belonged to no political party, did not know Hindi, never had been outside our own state and had no money to do anything other than build a family.

A bunch of scientists - I am sure well-meaning and all that - take what is essentially an organic material and produce another organic material (no doubt using a heck of a lot of energy for the process). And they rejoice that they have done the whole process a million times faster than our old, docile, ignorant earth would have.

No one, it appears, bothered to ask the scientists for an energy balance for the process.

in Algae Fuels

Does anyone have updates on any innovative microalgae harvesting mechanisms that have been explored recently?

in Algae Fuels

http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2194307/drax-aims-to-go-coalfree-after-biomass-subsidy-review - Drax going for a 100% biomass power plant? Is that what this article means?

in Biomass Power Production

Came across a story that there is a new technology for sewage water management industry in Netherlands

"The strength of the Nereda technology lies in special bacteria that grow in concentrated and fast settling granules. Conventional methods of treating wastewater use bacteria in fluffy flakes, which take much more time to separate from the treated water."

Source: http://www.waterworld.com/index/display/article-display/7802776492/articles/waterworld/world-regions/europe/2011/12/Netherlands-sewage-treatment-plant.html

Well, the idea is clear, but is it possible for some bacteria to leave the organic clumps in the form of concentrated granules while most bacteria make them into fluffy flakes?

in Sewage Waste Management

Is the maintenance requirements for electric cars different from that required for gasoline driven cars - apart from of course the battery replacement chore?

in Electric, Hybrid and Plug in Hybrid Electric Cars

How many kilometers can a typical electric car go on 1 kWh of electrical energy?

in Electric, Hybrid and Plug in Hybrid Electric Cars

Can Li-ion batteries used in electric cars last upto 10 years or more?

in Electric, Hybrid and Plug in Hybrid Electric Cars

What are the maximum speeds that electric cars can reach? Are they as high as the best that oil driven cars could reach?

in Electric, Hybrid and Plug in Hybrid Electric Cars

I believe the electric cars first made an appearance almost 100 years back, but never caught on. Was it only because petrol/gasoline was available in abundance, or were there other performance related reasons that put them out of business?

in Electric, Hybrid and Plug in Hybrid Electric Cars