Category: Blog

Putting algae in your gas tank sounds pretty crazy, doesn’t it? Well, guess what – you’re already driving on fuel made from algae. That’s because the crude oil miles below the earth’s surface was actually formed by layers of prehistoric algae blooms that settled on sea beds around the world. Continue reading Algae – The Original Fuel

Algae have great potential to play a role in food production since they contain carbohydrates, proteins and vegetable oils, in particular omega-3 fatty acids. This makes them a great source of animal and fish feed—a fact that has not escaped the world’s food producers as they try to meet increasing global demand.

Many of today’s algae companies are readying themselves to meet that demand in food markets, while simultaneously preparing to enter fuel, fertilizer, pharmaceutical, and other markets.

One example can be found it today’s Biofuels Digest. Jim Lane explains how a recent investment in one algae company is bringing together two of the largest food conglomerates in the world.

We noted a few days ago that Arizona Governor Jan Brewer recently signed two bills granting algaculture an agricultural property tax rate and allowing it on Arizona trust land. In a recent USA Today op-ed two of the state’s algae industry experts chime in on their thoughts about this approach.

Gary Dirks, director of Arizona State University’s LightWorks initiative, and Dan Simon, president and CEO of Heliae Technology Holdings Inc. write:

“With the passage of these two Arizona bills, we will offer algae the same benefits as any other agricultural product grown in our state and enable us to build large-scale algae farming operations that will benefit Arizona citizens through high-paying jobs, increased tax base, additional investment capital and sustainable use of agricultural lands for generations to come.”

Read the entire op-ed at USA Today.

Josh Wolf attends Elk River High School in Minnesota while he figures out solutions to the world’s energy challenges. Yesterday his biodiesel and algae operations were featured by KARE 11, and it looks like he has a bright future in the renewable fuels business.

Josh is no stranger to algae, having attended last year’s Algae Biomass Summit and being named a finalist in the 2011 International Algae Competition.  The video below has the details about his approach:

One of the key advantages of using algae to make gasoline, diesel or jet fuel is that the organisms require very little land to produce meaningful quantities of oil. Continue reading Algae and Land: A Few Acres Yield A Lot of Fuel