Jed Rothwell wrote:
As I said in a previous message, my remarks only apply to plantlife
grown outdoors in North America. I said: "Growing algae in tanks is
another matter."
That is an artificial distinction. You definitely do NOT need, nor even
want "tanks".
In fact there are already plans and suggestions from NREL that almost
every power plant in the USA which now burns coal or natural gas could
and should be piping CO2 into an adjoining algae pond.
The cost of earthmoving to create large ponds is well known and de
minimis. Most power plants are located far removed from urban areas with
plenty of buffer land which is perfect for such ponds. Hot water is a
plus for algae, allowing full year-round growing. If every power plant
could convert even half of its normal CO2 emissions into algoil, then
this is a huge step forward towards eliminating Arab oil, and might
actually benefit the consummer in several ways.
1) less direct CO2 emission - near neutral net emission
2) self-sufficient production of transportation fuel in the USA
3) lower net cost of electricity, when the algoil is sold a profit.
It is no coincidence that the huge recent sale of power-plants in Texas,
alluded to by Richard, will coincide with this shift towards algoil
production by power companies (formerly oil drillers).
Jones
