The “green” trend has been around since the 1970s, when an OPEC boycott, gas rationing, and rising prices called into question our dependence on oil. The creation of suburbs and the expansion of cities led to more large, gas-guzzling cars on the roads, and air pollution was becoming more prevalent, raising the question, “How can we find renewable energy, clean and cheap?
Enter the biofuel revolution. Biofuel is any fuel produced from biomass or organic matter. The challenge is to produce biofuel from biomass that can be renewed, so that it does not run out as a fuel source as oil reserves will. With the recent increases in the price of gasoline and the number of inefficient SUVs and fuel-burning vehicles on the roads today, the issue of biofuel production is coming back to the fore. Some recent biofuels, such as ethanol, have had limited success: yes, the waste from ethanol is mostly water, and ethanol is cheap. But the amount of land and energy that goes into planting, maintaining and harvesting corn for ethanol, in addition to ethanol production, make it much less environmentally friendly than previously thought. Additionally, there are ethical considerations about growing food fields only for biofuel production.
Today’s energy investors are putting efforts into a new solution: algae-based biofuel production. The algae use sunlight, the ocean, and sewage to grow and produce oil that is then harvested. The US Department of Energy estimates that the amount of oil that can be produced for biofuel from 15,000 square miles of algae farms is enough to replace all petroleum-based fuel in the country. That statistic is staggering: algae-based biofuel production would use less than one-seventh of the land devoted to corn production in the US and produce up to 100 times more energy per square mile. The algae are also biodegradable and, unlike oil, are relatively harmless if spilled. Best of all, algae do not require high-quality soil, so farms that produce algae could use land that is not suitable for food crops.
With the discovery of clean algae-based biofuel production, what is holding the market back? The answer is the same as with many biofuels of the past: high prices. Capital investments to establish a farm are expensive. However, over time, these investments will pay off and prices will fall. And with oil prices rising steadily, green biofuel may be competitively priced sooner than we thought. Good news for green energy.