From Water Cooler Genius:
– DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) has been able to extract oil from algal ponds at $2 per gallon and says they will soon be able to implement large-scale refinement of that oil into jet fuel for less than $3 per gallon.
– This project stemmed from the US military being the nation’s single largest energy consumer at 60-75 million barrels of oil per year.
– Pros to algae-based fuel:
* Algal farms don’t threaten food supplies (unlike corn-based ethanol).
* Algal strains can be grown on household waste or other unsanitary water supplies.
* Algal strains can be grown on household waste or other unsanitary water supplies.
* Algae absorbs CO2 during its growth (theoretically making the fuel carbon-neutral before procession & transport).
– It’s amazing how research to reduce military costs could end up being America’s saving grace for an affordable renewable energy source.
Source: Algae To Solve The Pentagon’s Jet Fuel Problem
