GreenFuel's president Dr. Isaac Berzin would also agree that there is no overwhelming energy crisis - but in a different sense.
Oy veh! the good doctor doesn't need to drastically inflate petroleum reserves to imaginary levels to make a point, but instead offers the following data on the possibility of attaining hints of US self-sufficiency in liquid fuels: To replace all transportation fuels in the US, we would need roughly 140 billion gallons of biodiesel. With a 50% market penetration of hybrid drivetrains and other improvements, this could be reduced to 100 billion gallons, worth a quarter trillion$ at the pump at 2006 prices. This wont happen now, but could at least be phased-in - so as to offset continuing growth in drivers. To produce the larger amount of biodiesel by growing soybeans would require almost 3 billion acres of prime farm land, or over 1 billion acres growing canola (rapeseed), at nominal yields of 48 and 127 gallons oil per acre, respectively - and cost twice as much as the comparative value of petrol. This is impossible to do that anyway, and still provide food crops at a reasonable prices. Plus it is basically immoral - as long as people are hungry in Africa. To produce that same amount of biodiesel by growing algae on flooded desert would require a land mass of roughly 9.5 million acres (almost 15,000 square miles, far less than the largest county in Alaska). To put this number in perspective, consider that the Sonora desert in the southwestern US comprises eight times more land - 120,000 square miles. Algae are now producing 15,000 gallons per acre for the dozen startup companies and small farmers working on this strategy. Greater production is possible with engineered algae (yes, the dreaded green goo!) 450 million acres are currently used for crop farming in the US, and over 500 million acres are used as grazing land for farm animals, so the requirements for fuel are relatively trivial. As has been shown by many, it is not possible nor desireable to grow enough corn for ethanol to meet our fuel needs, but using lipids extracted from algae, not requiring distillation, for a substantial proportion of fuel - this is possible. Arguably - even now, the incredible ramp-up to ethanol in the Mid-West - that unsung phenomenon has already been partially responsible fro moderating the previous rapid rise in gasoline prices. Corn crops convert only about one percent of available sunlight to energy while algae can convert up to 60% and do it on land otherwise unusable for anything other than armadillos. Not that there's anything wrong with armadillos. At least the desert is usable if we can "back-up" the raging Rio Grande river <g> Probably be cheaper than a big fence anyway. And if we can phase-in the home production and use of HOOH to boost biodiesel - we can and should avoid not only an energy crisis but higher prices - at least to about this time in 2012... Oy veh sez OPEC ! Comparing Ethanol to Oilgae is like comparing apples to ...err... algae? matter-of-fact, I propose to pronounce the new word "oilgae" to something like - Oy veh! Jones
