ABO Blog

Good news for the practice of using algae to produce fuel and other products. A report released today by the National Research Council examines the key sustainability issues related to scaling the algae industry.

The NRC correctly examined issues such as water, land-use, greenhouse gases and other concerns around sustainability and concluded: “The committee does not consider any one of these sustainability concerns a definitive barrier to sustainable development of algal biofuels because mitigation strategies for each of those concerns have been proposed and are being developed.”

The Algae Biomass Organization has issued a statement supporting this conclusion and detailing how the industry is already meeting the sustainability concerns raised in the NRC report.

The algae industry has a unique relationship to these sustainability issues because they are inexorably linked to the economic issues that will make an algae business successful. To make a algal fuels price-competitive with petroleum, algae producers must use the lowest cost inputs, and recycle them as much as possible. This means using saline or wastewater, recycling their fertilizers, and placing operations on lands that aren’t valued for other uses.

In short, the lowest cost algal fuels will also be the most sustainable.

ABO recognizes the NRC for its work to bring these issues to light, and hopes that the report sends a signal that algae-based fuels can, and will, be sustainable.

Those that attended the 2012 Algae Biomass Summit in Denver last month may have seen the great photos of European algae projects underway in almost every OECD country (including Iceland!) and come away thinking U.S. efforts shouldn’t  be complacent in light of so much activity overseas.

Last week the European Commission stepped up its game even more and announced a new proposal to allow algae biofuels to count quadruple toward EU biofuel and greenhouse gas reduction targets, according to a statement (PDF) by the European Algae Biomass Association.

There is a 10% EU target for renewable fuels in transport, and by counting four times the energy content of algae biofuels toward that target the policy will be a dramatic incentive for growth in the emerging European algae sector. Adding pressure is another controversial change that would limit how much biofuels made from food crops could count toward the target.

The policy even has a provision that adds long-term certainty to investors that might otherwise be shy about early-stage production operations. The proposal highlights that algae will be among the few raw materials for biofuels production for which European and public support will be ensured well beyond 2020.

Governments around the world are recognizing that algae can put a significant dent in energy security concerns while simultaneously providing economic and environmental benefits. In Europe, we may soon see significantly accelerated algae investments.

Those inside the algae industry have known for some time that San Diego is a focus for research and commercialization efforts. Now the area’s algae cluster is big enough to get some attention from mainstream business media.

A Businessweek article from October 11, “Algae Are a Growing Part of San Diego’s Appeal,” goes into fantastic detail about what is making the city so attractive to scientists and entrepreneurs that are using algae as a sustainable solution to our food, fuel and water-use challenges. Among the interesting tidbits is a short breakdown of the economic impact of the algae industry in the region:

“Algal biofuels research generated $80.9 million in economic activity in the region last year and employed 466, up from 215 in 2009, according to a study (pdf) from the San Diego Association of Governments.”

So algae-related employment in San Diego doubled in just a couple of years. We can’t wait to check back in 2014.

Read the full article about what makes a good algae industry hub at Businessweek.

For those of you that thought ABO’s Summer of Algae II was over, think again! On October 3^rd Algenol hosted dozens of local teachers in a tour of its facilities in Florida.

The local ABC affiliate was on hand to report on the event, and captured one teacher proclaiming algae “the coolest thing ever.”

ABC-7.com WZVN News for Fort Myers, Cape Coral