A check-list for an ideal renewable energy source may go a little bit like this… Source must not require soil, not need fresh water, be space efficient, absorb CO2 and should create own energy from the sun… Well, the Renewable Energy World Magazine says that all those boxes on the renewable energy source check-list can now be ticked, all thanks to advances in Algae bio-fuel development.
When companies such as Bill Gates, Cascade Investment LLC, conjure up over 100 million dollars worth of investment, then you know that this is a bio-fuel with a future. And when you start number crunching, and realise that this little single-celled plant produces energy at twenty times the rate of corn and soy, you realise why the renewable energy community is getting excited.
Indeed, so convinced of its virtue, the Renewable Energy World Magazine tells us that the European Union is investing 2.7 billion Euros, over the next seven years, in algae bio-fuel development research and production.
We all know that oil resources are becoming harder to extract and refine, and that because of this, oil prices will continue to rise, until oil literally runs out, so the race for the next generation of clean, accessible, renewable energy is more important than ever. It seems inevitable that renewable energy will only come when commercial viability is an option, and as we are seeing large corporations investing in algae, then it seems more likely that this will become the next bio-fuel to replace corn and soy.
Dubbed ‘Green Crude’, San Diego based company Sapphire Energy, aims to produce 10,000 barrels of algae bio-fuel within five years.
