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Hi all,<br>
<br>
I regret to report yet another tale of biofuel madness from San
Francisco; this time regarding algae.<br>
<br>
The story below (which actually naively promotes as good, an incredibly
dangerous and frankly ridiculous idea) highlights just
how much of a Frankenstein's monster algae based biofuel will become if
we let it proceed any further. (Also note my public response comment at
the end, for a concise blurb with which to challenge the nonsense
proposed in the article..)<br>
<br>
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href="http://www.sfbg.com/printable_entry.php?entry_id=8950">http://www.sfbg.com/printable_entry.php?entry_id=8950</a><br>
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<h1>The algae solution</h1>
<p><i>GREEN CITY: The San Francisco Bay may soon host a dramatic new
environmental project</i></p>
<p>By Gabrielle Poccia</p>
<p>The
San Francisco Bay may soon host a dramatic new environmental project
that backers say could solve three problems at once: clean wastewater,
remove carbon from the atmosphere, and produce biodiesel fuel. Yet it's
gotten remarkably little attention.</p>
<p>"For the most part,
people are just ignoring me," says Jonathan Trent, a researcher at NASA
Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, who is one of the driving forces
behind the project.</p>
<p>The new technology Trent and his
colleagues have created is called OMEGA (Off-shore Membrane Enclosures
for Growing Algae). The idea is to grow large colonies of freshwater
algae in what amounts to large plastic bags floating in the bay.</p>
<p>Wastewater
from local sewage plants and carbon sequestered from power plants would
provide food for the algae, which then produce oxygen and freshwater
along with an oil that can be refined into fuel.</p>
<p>The OMEGAs are giant semi-permeable membranes; the design allows
freshwater in but keeps saltwater out.</p>
<p>Using
algae for biofuel isn't new — there are a number of algae farms on
land. But they require large amounts of real estate and fresh water and
enough electricity to keep the water moving.</p>
<p>In this case, light from the sun provides the energy, and the motion
of the waves stirs the algae around.</p>
<p>Trent
is looking at ways to collect the freshwater that gets released by the
OMEGAs — potentially another major breakthrough for a state desperately
short of water.</p>
<p>Trent has shopped his project all over the
world and many countries have showed interest, but he believes San
Francisco is the perfect fit. "The people of San Francisco really have
an enlightened attitude and are aware that something needs to be done
to fix the problems we've created," he told us. "It's a great place to
demonstrate to the world that this is a feasible technology."</p>
<p>The
OMEGA project still faces political hurdles. Trent recently survived an
internal audit. And U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) has been critical
of federal spending for biofuel projects.</p>
<p>But the
scientist isn't discouraged. "Actually I'm glad we have been audited,"
he said. "I've been able to get attention and show that not only does
our system not use water, it actually produces clean water."</p>
<p>On
July 29 the project received approval for an $800,000 grant from the
California Energy Commission. According to Trent, the approval for the
grant was ready for approval months earlier, but Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger wanted to put it on hold because of the budget crisis.</p>
<p>The
CEC grant is coming just in time. A previous grant, from Google, was
due to run out at the end of September. "We're optimistic that if
people see that the CEC has invested, maybe others will want to
invest," Trent said. "But we need more than just financial resources —
we need brain power as well. The next step is to find engineers to
really make this a workable option."</p>
<p>Trent would like to
get a working model up and running within the next 18 months and hopes
to see a full-scale operation in place in five years.</p>
<p>San
Francisco may be the first city to host OMEGA. San Francisco Public
Utilities Commission staffers have met with Trent and are cautiously
optimistic. "Although it is just at the preliminary stages of
discussion, it doesn't dampen our excitement about the project," said
Tyrone Jue, spokesperson for the SFPUC. "We have to know what good we
will get out of it and if it is feasible in this area."</p>
<p>Environmentalists
caution that it's far from a perfect solution to the planet's problems.
Sierra Club staffer John Rizzo notes that "biofuels themselves are not
a good solution. It's a good bridge, but they are still burned and
create carbons that are bad for the planet." In the short term,
however, it sure beats drilling for oil off the California coast. </p>
<div class="entry_created_on">Wednesday August 5, 2009</div>
<br>
<div id="new_commentcontrol"> ( 1 comment | <a
href="http://www.sfbg.com/entry.php?entry_id=8950&catid=&volume_id=398&issue_id=443&volume_num=43&issue_num=45#cmt"
onclick="javascript:showForm(replyspan);">Comment on this article </a>)
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<div class="new_commentheader"> <strong>brookse</strong> on Tuesday,
August 4, 2009 at 11:18 PM<br>
<br>
</div>
<div class="new_comments"> You have got to be kidding...<br>
<br>
You are actually asking readers to believe that covering the bay with
giant plastic bags, filled with sewage and genetically engineered algae
(yes - genetically engineered - just do a good web search on algae
biodiesel and you'll discover this little inconvenient reality); bags
which also separate salt from the baywater leaving it unnaturally
saline and therefore deadly to wildlife; bags which of course will end
up leaking their toxic genetically engineered soup into the bay; you
are seriously asking us to believe that this is actually a good thing...<br>
<br>
Readers, for the straight story about the incredible screwed-up-ness of
the recent biofuel craze and how it is drastically messing up our
planet even more quickly than global warming, go to the Biofuel Watch
web site at: <a href="http://biofuelwatch.org.uk/" target="_link">[link]</a><br>
<br>
Eric Brooks<br>
San Francisco Green Party Sustainability Working Group<br>
</div>
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