DailyDirt: Biofuels From Tiny Organisms

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Fossil fuels presumably came from decaying animal and plant matter, so it seems reasonable that there might be a way to replace old oils with freshly-grown biofuels. The trick is getting biological organisms to step up and start churning out fuels on a massive scale. Growing fuel from solar power, water and carbon dioxide would be a great solution, if the process didn't require huge swaths of land and wasn't insanely expensive. Here are just a few links on some ways to grow instead of drill for oil.

• The widespread use of algae to produce biofuels seems like a possibility to directly grow fuel from solar power. We just need about 10 million acres of algae vats that can soak up some sun and spit out fuel (in a cost-effective process). [url]
• Yet another strain of yeast can convert xylose to ethanol. But growing the sugar in the first place seems like an extra step... and ethanol doesn't sound like the best biofuel available. [url]
• Algaes aren't the only microorganisms that can grow biofuels -- cyanobacteria can do it, too. But this super-secret process claimed by a small biotech firm sounds a bit too good to be true. [url]
• To discover more stuff on alternative energy, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

As always, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

Filed Under: algae, biofuels, cyanobacteria, ethanol, fossil fuels