ABO Blog

Food & Fuel for the 21^st Century is holding its annual symposium– Pushing the Genetic Boundaries of Photosynthetic Biomanufacturing!

March 14-15, 2014 | Atkinson Auditorium, UC San Diego| La Jolla, California

This event will feature:

• An exploration of the latest genetic research of photosynthetic organisms for the production of biomass, biofuel, and bio-products.
• A wrap-up of Cal-CAB’s Consortium for Algal Biofuels Commercialization (CAB-Comm) grant.
• Keynote talks from Hamilton Smith of the J. Craig Venter Institute and Roger Beachy from the World Food Center at UC Davis.

Don’t miss out on this great opportunity. Register today!

 

 

 

NREL’s Simulated Algal Growth Environment reactor is a one-of-a-kind bioreactor living up to its name.

NREL Senior Scientist Lieve Laurens explains, “We can model how a particular strain would grow in different locations around the United States, and how this impacts the oil productivity,” as well as the general biochemical composition of the biomass.

This enhanced algae growth can lead to the production of diesel, butanol, ethanol, and other fuels useful to industry- a positive outlook for the future of the algae industry.

Dr. Laurens is also chair of ABO’s Technical Standards Committee, which recently released Algae Industry Measurements, Version 6, and ABO publication that sets up a common language to evaluate algae operations regardless of the technological approach they take.

 

Over 800 California-based businesses, including ABO member Sapphire Energy, have signed the Climate Declaration. It is “a business leader call to action that urges federal and state policymakers to seize economic opportunity of addressing climate change”. The declaration was announced on February 25th at the Climate Leadership Conference in San Diego, California.

California is at the forefront of moving the U.S. to a clean energy economy, such as with its landmark legislation, AB32. Such leadership is especially crucial in California where drought has created a national emergency and innovative solutions that also create jobs can’t come fast enough.

“Actively addressing climate change is the biggest economic opportunity of our time,” said Danny Kennedy, co-founder of Sungevity and author of Rooftop Revolution, How to Save Our Economy – and Our Planet – from Dirty Energy.

Sapphire Energy, as well as the rest of the algae industry believes in algae’s ability to address climate change challenges:

• Algae have the ability to take in larger amounts of CO₂ from emitting sources, such as fossil fuel plants, out of the air and turn it into useful, sustainable products.
• California and other parts of the U.S. impacted by drought have had to take drastic measures to protect fresh water sources. Algae grow in salt water to produce feeds, fuels, medicines, cosmetics, and in some cases can even create fresh water.
• Algae’s resilient qualities to climate change, and the value of the products that are possible, can be source of new job growth. A robust algae industry could employ thousands in California alone.

Learn more about how California businesses are actively addressing climate change here.

 

The AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo is renowned internationally for connecting science and business within the topics of fats, oils, surfactants, lipids, and materials.

This year, the event will be held in San Antonio, Texas, May 4-7, 2014.

We are enthused to see that one of the first events is the “Algal Products Expert Panel” on Monday, May 5, 2014 from 7:00-8:00am.

Kicking off the meetings on the topic of algae proves that the algae industry is growing into its own with the scientific and business communities’ understanding of its potential.

Attendees of the AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo have the opportunity to learn from a program featuring more than 600 presentations, make new connections, and explore the expo that includes products and services, international companies, governments, and academic institutions.

Early registration closes on February 28, 2014. Visit the registration page for more information.

Do you want to expose your business and research to the world’s largest gathering of thought leaders in the algae industry?

Then submit your abstract to the 2014 Algae Biomass Summit! This year the Summit will be in sunny San Diego, California, at the San Diego Marriott Marquis and Marina, September 29 – October 2.

The ABO is now accepting abstracts for speaking and poster opportunities within the primary topic areas of:

• Biology
• Commercialization
• Engineering and Analysis
• Finance and Policy

Last year we had an unprecedented number of abstracts submitted and we are expecting even more submissions this year. First priority deadline is April 2, 2014.

Make sure to submit your abstract here before the deadline, and see you in San Diego!