Christopher's Comments

That's what I like about this website - every day I learn because they help me !

Sounds like good news for the race ?

Oil was made from algae in the first place, so there's no real reason why it shouldn't be done again.

It took 135,000,000 years to happen the first time around so to have come as far as we have in 20 years is great - I can't wait for this to come online.

Which it will have to ... necessity is afterall the mother of invention ?

Food VS Fuel anyone ?

This is the kind of activity that gives biofuels a bad name and will not win over the anti biofuels lobby.

I work in biodiesel in the UK but vehemently believe that we should not do this while ever anyone on Earth is hungry !

This and Palm Oil make it all too easy for people to shun biofuels and to want to throw the baby out with the bath water.

Not all biofuels are the same.

Bioethanol is not as efficient as other fuels - it's still a little early for me to get on my geopolitical / environmental moral highhorse just now.

Bioethanol is the perfect fuel for whom we (in the UK) call "Boy Racers" - It is high torque, low milage (racing) fuel. I am still amazed that nobody has made a successful motorbike that runs it ... yet.

Stop confusing first generation feedstocks with Biofuels, Jatropha and Karanj are up and coming as is Algae.

www.algaelink.com

What would you prefer - Biofuels, heavy oils or tar sands ?

Because they are the realistic alternatives to mineral oil and the wars caused by it.

There is also the issue of affordability,

China's economy is growing at 11% per annum

Their demand for oil is growing at 40% a year - driving global aggregate demand for oil by 2.5% a year.

Oil which may have reached peak production already.

When supply fails to meet demand - prices rise,
In the UK we already pay over $7 a gallon, the rest of the world aren't as lucky as those of us from world leading rich nations.

There are many reasons to support biofuels and the benefits they bring - the environmental benefits being just one of many.

So its safe to say that "disaster" is a somewhat knee - jerk reaction and an alternative to thinking before speaking ?

Not all biofuels are the same, not all people working in the industry are in it for the money.

Amen.

First generation feedstocks are soon to be yesterday's news and once algae and jatropha come on line, there will be a shift in the aggregate supply of biofuel feedstocks which I hope and pray will price foodcrops out of feasibility for fuel production.

Biofuels are not a disaster just because first generation feedstocks are a stumbling block - they are the only viable alternative to crude oil and the resource wars for it.

Or another solution would be to tax palm oil under the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement - It would ensure shorter production miles and a there smaller carbon footprint ?

Algae as carbon sequestration may even be carbon negative as it uses co2 to photosynthesise too !

They may say I'm a dreamer...

More second generation feedstocks are what we need !

Great news and hopefully we can get on with biofuels without hearing about insufficient quantities fo waste oils or food vs. fuel ever again ....

I think this is great news !

Food VS Fuel is a massive resisting force to the already struggling biofuels industry and algal feedstocks allow us to sidestep that issue and to increase aggregate supply - so that's great for consumers too.

I work in the UK biofuels industry (Filtration and Purification ) and believe that algal biofuels are the future of fuel production.

I would welcome any information (or even better, partnerships) regarding this so that we may assess our product offerings to evaluate how we might continue to serve the evolving biofuels industry for the good of the planet and its economies.

christopher@hydrotechnik.co.uk

www.filtertechnik.co.uk