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Unread 07/05/2008, 06:37 PM   #18
bergzy
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Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: OC CA USA
Posts: 5,299
algae indeed is an interesting topic. could it be the a viable fuel source?

from the moment i learned about corn etc being grown for ethanol to supplement gas...i thought to myself 'is that the craziest thing i have ever heard of? we are using a virgin food product to be converted to fuel for our vehicles?'

at first, i thought this was tragically funny...but now that it has been implemented and is a part of our gas program now...watch how food prices will and have soared due to the midwest flooding and ruining crops (for food and fuel). dont forget to couple that with record oil prices along with the incredibly high demand from india and china...and we have the makings of a perfect storm!

plus, how stupid is it to use corn for fuel? it takes 1 gallon of fuel to produce 1.3 g (or so) of fuel. 30%? great yes IF it didnt involve a lot of watering, pesticides, fertilizer, harvesting, land use for a FOOD product.

http://www.ethanol-gec.org/corn_eth.htm
http://feinstein.senate.gov/05speeches/ethanol-oped.htm

plus, ethanol doesnt have the same punch as gas. it takes more ethanol to get the same power of a lesser amount of gasoline...so, it becomes pretty much a break even point...insane!

solution?

there are so many and i feel we are in the infancy of discovering viable alternative energy solutions (corn, soybean, sugarcane are not, imo).

here is an interesting and innovative solution. vertical growing of algae. it uses profoundly less land than having a spread out flat land mass. it does not use soil, pesticides etc.

Mr. Glenn Kertz, with his High Density Vertical Bioreactors.



http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...3/ai_n24931701

still experimental but interesting...and profitable!


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Current Tank Info: 180g sps, 90g cube clam biotope.
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