Algae Fuel: The Evolutionary Reason It Actually Works

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Everyone has heard the algae pitch by now. The rapid-growing, single-celled buggers produce an inordinate amount of oil. Approximately 30 percent of their body mass in a natural state is lipid content and genetic engineering and selective breeding can pop it up closer to 70 percent. The whole North Sea oil field was once a giant algal bloom.

Algae proponents say they will ultimately be able to get 5,000 to 10,000 gallons of oil per acre per year from algae. That’s better than cellulosic ethanol where the optimistic prognosis is 2,700 gallons. A couple of thousand square miles of desert land and you could provide all of the fuel the U.S. needs, in theory.

Solazyme says it will be in position to produce algae-based fuel that’s competitively priced in two to three years.Solix, says it costs $33 a gallon to produce algae fuel right now and that’s in optimal lab conditions.

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