ABO Blog

Those of you conducting algae R&D may be interested in this funding opportunity released by the DOE on Tuesday. The deadline for concept papers is February 11, 2013.

The objective of the Advancements in Algal Biomass Yield (ABY) funding opportunity is to demonstrate, at a process development unit scale of one (1) acre cultivation equivalent, algal biofuel intermediate yield of 2,500 gallons of biofuel feedstock (or equivalent dry weight basis) per acre per year by 2018. The Biomass Technologies Office believes this target is an important milestone in reducing the cost of algal biofuels to cost-competitive levels on the way to achieving 5,000 gallons per acre by 2022.

You can find more information, and a link to apply, here. Best of luck to those that do apply!

With the enormous fuel yields of 2,000 – 5,000 gallons per acre possible from a crop of algae it might be tempting to think about growing enough at home to provide for your own energy needs. And that’s exactly what researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology College of Architecture and Ohio University are going to do.

With a grant from the National Science Foundation the research is going to first focus on how algae might be integrated with waste stream management as a solution for the energy needs of a single-family residence, and then scaled up for use by an entire community.

Algae may be the only crop with the potential yield to make this possible, and it’s ability to grow in wastewater treatment applications has already been demonstrated, as shown in the video below.

And distributed energy production like this could go a long way toward reducing our reliance on energy imports from abroad, or your neighbor for that matter.

The Educating and Developing workers for the Green Economy (EDGE) Initiative was started with funding from the California Department of Labor to create and launch training programs in anticipation of the growth of the biofuels and industrial biotechnology sectors. Based on the EDGE Biofuels Science Technician Certificate run in 2011 and 2012, the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology (SD-CAB) and UC San Diego Extension is launching two Specialized Certificates in Biofuels, starting in January 2013.

You can learn more about the new 2013 EDGE Biofuels Certificates and Scholarships at http://algae.ucsd.edu/edge.html.

Changes for 2013 include funding for around 20 students to receive 50% scholarships for either of the Biofuels Certificate programs.  A second scholarship application round will likely be announced in early February.  The lecture courses will now also be entirely online.  Lab courses will be taught in an intensive format on the UCSD campus for 4 weeks during the summer, with some labs taught in the evening to minimize disruption to students’ employment.  The program does have some limited student housing and meal plans available on campus for those not based in San Diego to attend the summer labs.  International students are welcome.  And students also enroll in individual classes, rather than the whole certificate.