You’ve heard about the canary in the coal mine, but what about the sardine in the sea? This week we learned that the Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to shutter the West Coast sardine fishery for at least one year, beginning July 1.
While sardines may not be the favorite tasting food of many humans, they are the meal of choice for highly popular (and environmentally crucial) larger fish such as Chinook salmon and albacore tuna.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports “Sardine numbers — which can only be measured using their collective weight — have dropped from 1,037,000 metric tons in 2007 to 96,688 metric tons, a 91 percent decline.
What does this have to do with algae? It’s all about Omega 3’s. Sardines are rich in Omega 3 fatty acids, which makes them popular as a health food for humans and a tasty treat for fish higher up the food chain.
The collapse of the fishery could have more grave consequences for the health of tuna and Chinook salmon, among others (which are also more popular sources for Omega 3s).
Algae are prolific producers of Omega 3’s, and can be grown sustainably in a variety of climates, offering aquaculture and nutraceutical/health markets a stable source of this important nutrient.
This issue shows us that we simply can’t assume the supply of important nutrients that we’ve traditionally sourced from the sea and land will be available in the same amounts in the years to come.
Algae companies, including ABO members Cellana, BioProcess Algae, DSM and Earthrise are all harvesting the power of algae to produce important and lasting sources of fish, animal and human proteins.
Starting on April 22nd in Amsterdam, ACI’s 5th annual European Algae Biomass Conference will once again bring together senior executives from industry and academia to discuss the latest commercial and technical developments, challenges and research breakthroughs throughout the entire algae value chain.
A number of ABO members will be in attendance. This will be an excellent opportunity to network with the leaders developing the algae industry in Europe! For more details click the banner above or download the brochure.
Algae is a global opportunity, be sure to check out this event.
A power plant could make millions transforming its carbon dioxide into fuels and other products. Pictured: Algenol’s bioreactors producing ethanol in Florida
The U.S. Supreme Court is currently hearing arguments related to its review of three consolidated cases regarding the EPA’s regulation of toxic emissions from power plants: Michigan v. Environmental Protection Agency, No. 14-46; Utility Air Regulatory Group v. Environmental Protection Agency, No. 14-47; and National Mining Association v. Environmental Protection Agency, No. 14-49.
At the heart of the issue is the contention by industry groups and several states that the EPA did not factor in, appropriately, the high cost of compliance related to meeting reduction goals for toxic substances such as mercury and other gases.
The costs traditionally associated with preventing air pollution are likely to come up again and again as the EPA moves forward with regulations that seek to limit how much mercury, or carbon dioxide, is being emitted into the atmosphere.
Believe it or not, we actually agree that the costs of pollution reduction are not be considered appropriately, but not because we want to see the regulations go away.
Rather, we argue that neither EPA nor industry accurately accounts for the very real, and very significant, revenue to be gained from emissions reductions by recycling carbon into a host of valuable products and commodities using algae technology.
Of course burying emissions (sequestering, using EPA terminology) is costly. But what if you could reuse those gases? Several ABO members are doing just this. Let’s do a little “back of the envelope” math to show the implications of reusing CO2 rather than burying it. We’ll use Algenol Biofuels as an example.
The company states its algae technology, can convert 1 ton of algae into 144 gallons of fuel. Even at today’s low fuel prices (~$2.00/gal), that equates to $288 per ton of CO2. As fuel costs go up, so does the value of algae-derived fuels from waste CO2.
A typical power plant produces about 3.5 million tons of CO2 per year. At $288 per ton, that’s slightly more than $1 billion a year in additional revenue.
Even if you subtract capital expenses and operating expenses of $100 million (which is extremely aggressive), a typical utility could earn $900 million per year. Every year. All while reducing overall emissions by about 60 percent.
Even if you assume that algae technology could only convert 30% of emissions, you’re still looking at about $300 million per year after paying off capital expenses.
There are about 500 coal-fired power plants in the US. If even half of those incorporated algae conversion technology at the rates above, we’re looking at a $75 billion dollar opportunity at the low end and a $225 billion dollar opportunity at the high end.
ABO continues to make the argument far and wide that we’re looking at the problem of carbon emissions the wrong way. CO2 is not a problem – it’s an opportunity.
Power generation facilities today are literally blowing revenue up in smoke – revenue that could be used to offset the costs of emissions compliance at the very least, create new income streams to reduce ratepayer burdens, and at the very best create new jobs and economic development in the regions where they operate.
So yes, the EPA didn’t accurately factor in the cost of compliance – because it’s actually a profit.
Thank you to everyone who submitted an abstract for the 2015 Algae Biomass Summit before the priority review deadline of March 16, 2015! Hundreds of abstracts are now under review and will receive preferred scoring for inclusion in the oral and poster sessions.
If you missed the deadline you can still submit an abstract! The Algae Biomass Organization will accept abstracts for consideration on an ongoing basis.
Your abstract will be reviewed and scored after those that have met the priority deadline. Successful abstracts will be included in the Summit’s oral or poster sessions as space permits.
All algae research, markets and technology applications will be considered:
Energy & Fuel
Health & Nutrition
Food & Agriculture
Materials & Services, and more!
Abstracts selected for speaking spots receive a discount for registration to the Summit.
The Spring 2015 ATP3 workshop Principles and Processes: Algae Culture Maintenance, Production and Downstream Processing will take place from May 18th-22nd at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, CO. If you are interested about working in the algae cultivation field ABO strongly recommends the resources available through ATP3.
Lectures will cover the fundamentals of managing microalgal cultures, culturing techniques, measuring biomass and high-value natural products, harvesting and processing technologies, as well as life cycle analysis and operations at the production scale.
Participants will have opportunities to work in the laboratory and learn how to measure culture density (cell counting and optical density), use a light and fluorescence microscope, perform gravimetric analyses (dry weight and ash-free dry weight), and techniques to analyze biomass compounds.
You’ve heard about the canary in the coal mine, but what about the sardine in the sea? This week we learned that the Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to shutter the West Coast sardine fishery for at least one year, beginning July 1.
