Some Knowledge

Scientists are working on ways to grow algae for fuel.  Certain species of algae produce large quantities of oil.  Using water, carbon dioxide, and sunlight, algae can produce all the fuel the world needs.  Algae is more productive per acre of pond area than most crops and can continue to grow and be harvested year round in suitable climates.  There is little waste in an algae operation, as the plant produces oils, starches, and protein that can be used as feedstocks for fuel production or for food.

An algae farm, or any other farm for that matter, is just a way of converting solar energy to chemical energy.  Photosynthesis is a means of capturing the energy of sunlight.  The advantages of farming over other forms of solar energy is that large areas of land can be covered with some crop and large amounts of sunlight can be captured in a form that is easily utilized by machinery.

The overall efficiency of photosynthesis for converting sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water into carbohydrates is approximately 6.6%.  This is not as efficient as good solar cells.  This is also the plant efficiency, and will be lower when energy inputs for processing are factored in.  There is some waste involved in any biofuel operation.  This waste will occur from costs for drying the product, extraction of oils, fermentation of starches into ethanol, and other costs such as transportation and further refinement.

The overall efficiency of any biofuel operation could be improved by just drying and burning the crop directly in a high-efficiency steam turbine electrical powerplant.  The whole point of growing  algae would be to derive fuel that could be used in motor vehicles, airplanes, and for other uses like home heating.  As the price of petroleum goes up, the economic payoff for an algae farm increases.  The cost inputs of an algae farm are for land, pond construction, maintenance, harvesting, drying, and further processing.  Once set up, however, the system could continue to run with only input from sunlight.

Many of the species of algae being studied for farming are marine species.  This means that algae farms might be located in warm coastal regions where they could draw seawater for their ponds directly from the ocean.  There are algae farms under construction in Texas now, and some in operation in Arizona recycling carbon dioxide from a power plant.  It has been estimated that it would take algae farms equivalent in area to the state of Maryland to supply the United States with fuel.  An area the size of Texas could supply the entire world with oil.

As with any other large scale venture, farming algae for fuel will require a lot of capital.  It costs a lot of money to construct such huge operations.  Algae farms could power the entire world, but it would require a large investment in land and refineries to make this energy available to people.  When the petroleum begins to run out, algae farms may be a good way to supply the world with the power it needs.  As the petroleum was originally made by algae in the ancient seas of earth, this is not such a strange idea.  Man has always used nature to survive, and will continue to do so in the future.

A California company is planning on marketing a home system for generating pure ethanol from sugar.  The e fuel corporation is planning on marketing a device that looks like a gas station fuel pump, runs on electricity from your home, and uses a feedstock of inedible Mexican sugar supposedly available for 2.5 cents a pound.

My question is:  If you have a distillery in your home, why bother going anywhere?  Sure, you will need to buy sugar for the still, or filter, or whatever it is they use to separate the water from the alcohol.  It’s pretty strange to me, this idea of filtering water out of the fermentation liquid.  In general, you need a still for that process.  What’s more, the maximum percentage you can get of alcohol by distillation is 196 proof, which explains why this is the proof of Everclear.  To get the last four percent of water out of the juice, you need a complicated chemical process involving bromine.  In any case, this company claims they have a process to make 100% ethanol suitable for motor fuel from something the size of a washer-dryer.

If this ten thousand dollar system actually makes fuel-grade ethanol, why wouldn’t they just scale up the operation and sell the ethanol at a profit like any respectable energy corporation?  E fuel claims their system will make alcohol for a dollar a gallon.  Surely if it works like this the availability of a fuel they can mark up and sell for a three hundred percent profit must have them thinking.  What does the IRS have to say about their home still?  I’m sure the revenuers would be interested in any gas pump that spits out high-octane white lightning.

There seems to be a trend these days to want to make motor fuel at home.  Yes, the stuff is expensive.  it’s expensive for a reason.  It costs a lot.  Sugar is more expensive than gasoline.  From what I recall about fermentation, it takes two pounds of sugar to make one pound of ethanol.  The yeast consumes some of the energy in the process.  This is pretty wasteful.  Maybe instead of selling these things to motorists they should think of selling them to bars.  There is a higher markup on beverage alcohol than on motor fuel.

I don’t know what the world is coming to with the high price of oil.  Things keep getting more expensive every day.  There is just no way I am going to pay anyone ten grand for a lousy still I could make myself, if I were that desperate.  It would be cheaper and less hassle just to pay for gas and not drive so much.  If a home still is such a good idea, why does the government keep busting moonshiners?  If this system makes pure ethanol you would have to pay the liquour tax on any fuel you make, because it would be drinkable.

A home still is just a bad idea.  If people really wanted to save money they could ride a bike.  I don’t see anyone marketing enclosed pedalcars for transporting people.  There’s no practical way to drive a pedalcar on the roads the way they are now.  If there weren’t so many cars on the road I could get a rickshaw and start a taxi business.  If I spent ten grand on a still I wouldn’t burn the booze it made in a car.

With the price of oil and gas going up daily, there have to be ways to cut back on use.  This will not only save limited supplies of fuel, but will also cut back on the costs a person faces in paying for this fuel.

Driving is one of the top uses for fuel.  We all need to drive to get around this modern world.  Stores and places of work may be at considerable distance from home.  You might have to travel a long distance to your job or other places.  The biggest thing you can do to save on fuel costs is to drive an efficient vehicle.  This means you might have to sell your Hummer and get a nice fuel-efficient four cylinder engine car.  The lighter the car, the less fuel it takes to accelerate.   When you drive a heavy vehicle like a truck, it takes a lot more energy to get it going and slow it down.  Consider getting a hybrid vehicle, if you have the extra cash.  Hybrid technology makes cars more efficient.

Aside from transportation, heating and cooling are the next biggest consumers of energy.  Heating your home in winter and running air conditioning in summer can add up to big expenses in maintaining a home.  You will want to have efficient, well-sealed windows and doors.  Extra insulation can save on both heating and cooling.  Efficient furnaces and air conditioners can go a long way in saving on heating and cooling costs.  It’s a trade off though.  More efficient appliances cost more initially, but save in the long run on operating costs.

Electricity is another major energy cost.  You can save some energy by turning off lights when they are not needed.  Some appliances like televisions draw energy when they are turned off to supply power to clocks and memories.  It might be cost effective to plug these items into switched plugs and disconnect them when they are not in use.  Of course, this may disrupt the clocks or channel memories, so look into buying the most efficient products and think about energy consumption before you purchase things.

We live on a planet with limited fossil fuel reserves.  With current increases in demand for these fuels, prices are going to go up.  Until alternative energy sources are implemented, like renewable wind and solar technologies, we will be forced to conserve energy or spend more purchasing it.  People need to think ahead and decide what is important.  In the long run, the food supplies will be affected, and our ability to afford heat, light, and transportation may also not be met by current supplies of energy.  If we think ahead and start conserving now, and provide for continuous energy supply from the sun, we will avoid a possible worldwide crisis.

President Bush suggested drilling for oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve at his Tuesday morning news conference.  It is believed that a peak production of a million barrels a day might be available from this north Alaskan coastal region, after development peaks in about 2025.  Predicted effects of the tapping of this reserve are a decrease in the price of oil by 30 to 50 cents a barrel.  It is predicted that the use of this resource will reduce American dependence on foreign oil from 70% to 66%.

The idea of drilling for oil and gas in this region has been around for a long time.  It has been known that this area has oil reserves since oil seeps and sands were found there by the first explorers in the region.  While any increase in domestic production of oil will help reduce our reliance on foreign sources, it is debatable if opening this region to exploration will do much to reduce the price of petroleum.

The supply of oil in the earth’s depths is limited.  People have been using petroleum at an increasing rate.  More and more regions of the world are becoming developed, with automobiles and high energy consumption rates.  It is certain that the price of oil will increase in the future as supplies run out.  We need to come up with alternatives to petroleum and start to conserve the amount of energy we use.  This will take a lot of planning and research.  We will need to invest in alternative sources of energy.  The resources of the earth are finite.  We should preserve what we have and not squander resources on ridiculous lifestyles.

The natural carbon cycle of plants and environment on earth can be used to supply energy to the world.  Solar energy from the sun is captured by the chlorophyll in plants, which take water and carbon dioxide and forms carbohydrates.  The light energy of the sun is converted into chemical potential energy in the tissues of the plant.  All life is based on and gets its energy from this natural process.  All the food we eat is derived from plant sources on some level.

It is simply a matter of using the available surface area of the earth to grow plants.  Trees, grasses, food crops, any botanical source of material can be used to generate power for use by man.  Trees can be grown and harvested every few years for use as fuel or for conversion into liquid or gaseous fuels.  Algae can be grown in ponds and processed into liquid fuels.  It will take some effort to convert from a system that utilizes fossil fuels, but it is entirely possible to use the energy from plants to run our society.

Care must be taken in implementing any kind of energy farming system that adequate land is left to grow food crops.  Waste material from the growth of food can also be used as fuel in biomass power generation schemes.  People might use the corn kernels for food and burn the cobs and stalks for energy.  Biomass fuels are not as dense or compressed as fossil fuels, so some research into transportation and storage might still need to be done.

The world will never run out of energy as long as the sun keeps shining.  Plants have been providing energy for the living creatures of this planet since only blue-green algae lived in the primitive seas of earth.  People learned to harness this energy for heat and light when they discovered the use of fire.  It may take some effort and funding, but the technology is already in place to use plants as fuel for the coming ages.

Sungevity is a company that sells solar cell technology for home energy generation.  The system consists of photovoltaic panels, racks for mounting the panels on the roof, wiring, and a DC to AC inverter.  During the day the system generates electricity from incident sunlight and sends excess power out over the grid, spinning your meter backwards.  At night, you draw power from the grid.

The company claims that their systems have a lifetime of 25 years and over the course of this time will pay back 200% of the initial cost in savings on your electric bill.  They also claim that installation of a solar system will pay back itself in the first year of operation by increasing the resale value of your home.

Sungevity operates in the state of California.  They handle all their business online and give quotes based on information about your house obtained from aerial photographs.  Sungevity claims that their systems are typically 10% less expensive than their competitors.  They handle all installation of the solar system and will move the system to another house if you want to take it with you when you move.  Systems start at $7000 and go up from there.

T. Boone Pickens is planning on spending $10 billion to build a massive wind farm to generate electricity.  Mesa Power, Pickins’ company, plans to buy land and begin installing 2700 wind turbines next month.  The projected power output of the wind farm will be 4000 megawatts.

While wind is a renewable resource, this is a profit-making venture for Pickens.  He plans to get a 25% return on his investment over the years of operation.  With the price of oil going up every day, wind and solar energy is becoming more economically feasible.  There are already 16,818 megawatts of power generating capacity from wind turbines in the US, with another 3,626 megawatts under construction.  Texas leads the states with 4,356 megawatts of capacity.

For more information on wind energy, check out the American Wind Energy Association website.