Category: Blog

The Algae Biomass Organization (ABO), today announced CO₂-to-fuels company Joule Unlimited as a new Platinum member and Parker Hannifin’s Renewable Resources Unit focusing on algae industry research and development as a new Corporate member.

Joule and Parker join the growing ranks of companies and organizations that are working with ABO to develop algae and other photosynthetic microorganisms into a source of sustainable fuels, chemicals, feeds, nutraceuticals and other products.

Read more about these algae industry leaders in ABO’s press release.

Algae was in the White House today. During the 2015 White House Science Fair President Obama came face-t0-face with young innovators showing off their solutions to a wide range of challenges facing the world. To no surprise of ABO, one of the Earth’s oldest organisms–algae–was on the stage.

Sophia Sanchez-Maes (16) of New Mexico had the chance to show President Obama a technology breakthrough she developed after hearing that algae have the potential to provide 5,000 gallons or more of biofuel per cultivated acre.

Using a strain of algae that thrives in difficult conditions found in the geothermal features of Yellowstone National Park, Sanchez-Maes designed a wastewater treatment system that not only cleans water, it generates energy while doing so.

A job well done, and we look forward to hearing more from this young algae innovator!

Check out the White House press release for more details.

Booth spaces on the exhibit floor of the 2015 Algae Biomass Summit are now on sale! The exhibit floor at the Summit is the best place to showcase your algae-derived products, new technologies, research and business services. This is the one time of year that the entire industry gets together under one roof — don’t miss out. Reserve your spot today!

Details are available at http://www.algaebiomasssummit.org/?page=Exhibit

Big news last week from the International Energy Agency shows some promising data – for the first time the world has seen a leveling off of emissions combined with economic growth.

The previous three years in which overall emissions declined coincided with years of economic pullback, which makes sense. Reduced economic growth reduces demand for products and services, which decreases overall energy demand.

What is key from the most recent findings, however, is that in 2014, the economy grew by 3 percent, while emissions remained overall about the same as in 2013.

Scientists are careful to not declare this a “trend”, but it’s great news nonetheless. The data show what many have said for years – that reduced emissions and economic growth are not mutually exclusive.

Separate, but related, we also took note of the findings of the 10^th Annual US Sustainable, Responsible and Impact Investing trends report. Among the many key findings, the report notes that:

“US sustainable, responsible and impact investing (SRI) has grown substantially over the past two years. The total US-domiciled assets under management using SRI strategies expanded from $3.74 trillion at the start of 2012 to $6.57 trillion at the start of 2014, an increase of 76 percent. These assets now account for more than one out of every six dollars under professional management in the United States.”

So, we’re seeing progress on the industrial side of emissions reductions while at the same time investors are driving demand for sustainable investments. We’ve come a long way from even a decade ago, when such talk of “going green” was roundly dismissed by the industrial and financial communities.

What’s best of all? The best is still yet to come. Cleantech companies, like those in the algae industry, continue to develop and commercialize technologies for a range of products in the energy/fuel, agriculture, human health and chemicals markets.

ABO’s 2015 survey of the algae industry shows high expectations for continued growth in the sector as well as increased production of a wide range of algae-derived products. Despite low gas prices and uncertainty in Washington, DC the members of the Algae Biomass Organization are moving full speed ahead to commercialize algae as a new source of sustainable products.

As in the previous three annual surveys, respondents this year continued their optimism that algae-derived fuels are likely to be price competitive with fossil fuels by 2020 (75 percent agreement); that algae based feeds will be commercially available by 2020 (97 percent agreement); and that algae-based plastics and chemicals will be commercially available in the same timeframe (93 percent agreement).

A majority of producers reported plans to increase production capacity (70 percent agreement); and many expect positive hiring trends through 2015 and beyond.

Other key findings of the survey included:

• The algae industry supports a wide variety of jobs across the United States. Respondents reported holding all types of positions in their organizations including executives, scientists and researchers, operations or production positions, finance, students and professors.
• Significant job growth is projected by 2020, with the percentage of employers with 51-100 employees expected to continue to increase and the percentage of employers that expect 101-500 employees expected to increase eightfold.
• Congressional engagement is high—68 percent of respondents’ organizations either have met with or plan to meet with legislators, and more than half of ABO members reported having elected officials tour their facilities.
• Forty-six percent of producers project the cost of algae-based fuel to be less than $3.00 per gallon and more than 91 percent project the cost to be less than $5.00 per gallon by 2020.

Check out our slide deck of the findings:

An executive summary of the survey’s results is available at:
https://algaebiomass.org/resource-center/references/industry-statistics/