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Green Crude

Bill Machon

San Diego based Sapphire Energy claims they have achieved the ability to cost-effectively mass produce carbon-neutral oil that can be refined into gasoline from algae.  They also claim that production will not hijack arable land or fresh water resources.  Some experts are skeptical, yet cautiously optimistic that while Sapphire's carbon-neutral "green crude" isn't a perfect solution to our energy crisis, they just might be on to something.

 

Photo : Sapphire Energy

7-10-08

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Yeah, everything I've seen

Submitted by davidgrenier on Mon, 07/07/2008 - 21:16.
Yeah, everything I've seen says that algae-based bio-oil looks really good on paper and could be the solution the the liquid-fuels problem (especially if combined with conservation methods). To date its just vaporware as noone has come up with a scalable production method, but it gives me hope.

More efficient than Ethanol

Submitted by Haha Yeah on Thu, 07/10/2008 - 17:09.
More Algae per acre can be grown and turned into fuel than Corn being grown per acre for Ethenol. http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/359.html
Picture of <em>vivifidal</em>

fungible

Submitted by vivifidal on Thu, 07/10/2008 - 23:32.
This is a very interesting word that pops up in the article. Means virtually interchangeable in use to crude oil which means it could be used for plastics and various other things. I once toyed with the idea of bioculture in plastic domes that could convert completely nonarable land into production sites for everything from cultured meat to pharmaceuticals using bioengineered cells in clusters of domes that would look like fields of giant mushrooms. maybe even in space.
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i heard some radio talk

Submitted by cjmoore on Fri, 07/11/2008 - 01:14.
about how this kind of natural use of things was already known of back in the 30's when the big oil and chemical companies put the nix on it, and you see where that has brought us.Instead of petroleum based products, we could of had plant based ones.

At least, it's the appropriate color

Submitted by Aloysius on Fri, 07/11/2008 - 01:44.
It fits into the agenda. Good for the ones who can afford it. It will be a green alternative fuel, always more expensive than big oil, of course. This is just clever marketing.

But, but...

Submitted by Sean B on Sun, 07/13/2008 - 14:03.
It's incredible that they've come up with the ability to do such things, but isn't it still a bit of a band-aid fix? Should we still keep transporting food around the globe, drive cars to work, increase urban sprawl, and so on, now that we have renewable oil? I think the problem goes deeper, it lies in core processes of human systems on the planet. Still...for practical uses, this looks hugely promising.