Technology...

In the language of investment, diversity is the golden rule.After our flawed fossil-fuel focus of the last 150 years, the best strategy for 21st century energy will be to take a portfolio-approach to fuel. From wind and solar to biodiesel and tidal power, cultivating multiple energy sources can protect us from shortages, hedge against disasters, and decrease political conflict.

Algae is the newest fuel that has been getting some buzz because of its hyper-productivity. One acre of live algae can produce 50 times more fuel oil than an acre of soy, and 30 times more than switchgrass. Some analysts predict that its starting cost could soon be $40 – 50 per barrel. Algal fuel is biodegradable, non-toxic and produces no sulfur byproducts, unlike other biofuels. Algae production plants can also remove carbon dioxide from the air because utility smokestacks can be piped into algae growing ponds. And unlike corn-based ethanol, algae for fuel doesn’t threaten our food markets

Critics caution that production of algal fuel requires too much water to be sustainable, and that genetically modifying the organisms to produce more oil leaves them vulnerable to harmful microorganisms.

But many companies are betting they’ll be able to resolve these dilemmas with more intensive R & D. Mucking about in this new pond are American startup companies such as LiveFuels, GreenFuel Technologies and Solazyme, which has plans to roll out a consumer fuel within 2-3 years in consultation with Chevron. Their greatest competition comes from Israeli companies Eco Energy, Algatech and Seambiotic, which is developing ways to feed algae production with coal power plant emissions. So although algae as a super food never quite took off, algae in its pond-to-pump incarnation may be the super crude of the future.