This holiday season, let’s make algae the hot topic:
Avoid the partisan political talk, algae is one thing everybody can support. Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Libertarians, Greens and everyone in between has supported developing algae technologies that can give us a new source of sustainable products, jobs and a better environment. Many algae companies are looking for ways to bring new jobs to rural America by turning the CO2 from power plants into revenue. Others are freeing up crop land by growing algae-based feed, or using algae to clean wastewater from cities and agricultural operations.
A funny thing happened on the way to fuel…. Algae-based fuels are an exciting focus for ABO members, but even as fossil fuel prices dropped many are taking advantage of algae’s incredible potential in other markets. It turns out the same technologies that can cultivate algae for fuel have also made it easier to produce algae-derived food and feed, plastics and chemicals. Companies around the world are taking advantage of the revenue potential, and providing the more sustainable products that consumers are demanding.
Who says you can’t reverse global warming? Some say we are past the point of no return when it comes to climate change, others say that we can still get our CO2 emissions down to manageable levels. Point your friends to this study in Carbon Balance and Management that calculates how farming algae for animal feed, combined with carbon capture and sequestration, could actually lead to a reduction in global CO2 concentrations! Even without CCS, algae could limit global temperature change by as much as 0.7° C by the year 2100. That would take a big bite out of the climate change problem.
Seaweed is algae too! Who wants some ice cream? Seaweed derivatives have been used in ice cream and other products for decades, but ABO members are exploring new uses for these macroalgae as well. One researcher discovered a seaweed that tastes like bacon, while others are planning to grow macroalgae in the open ocean for fuels, advanced food and other applications.
Finally, ask your colleagues to get in involved by joining the Algae Biomass Organization!Everybody in the algae industry knows ABO, and the leaders of the industry are ABO’s members. We’d love to have you be part of this incredible movement.