Sewage to Algae to Fuel --
So John Perry Barlow will be able to include an "alt fuel" start up company on his curriculum vitae, as well as his having been the lyricist for the Grateful Dead:
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/sewage-to-algae-unites-whiskey-fortune-dead-lyricist-greenfuel-and-nasa
Conspiracy nuts are going to love this company.
Algae Systems hopes to produce fuel from algae with the OMEGA method pioneered by NASA. OMEGA, which stands for Offshore Membrane Enclosure for Growing Algae, involves growing algae in large bags measuring up to a quarter-acre in size that are tethered in the ocean. Instead of being fed carbon dioxide from smokestacks or sugars, the algae would grow by feeding off of wastewater.
Besides producing algae that could be used for fuel, the process would convert the wastewater into fresh water. It's an intriguing idea, although it may be tougher to get permits for this kind of project in the aftermath of the Gulf oil spill. Algae Systems has talked about launching a prototype off the coast of Florida. The picture shows an artist's conception of how OMEGA might work.
But what really makes the company interesting is the diverse cast of characters behind it. Along with licensing OMEGA from NASA, Algae Systems has purchased the patent portfolio of now-defunct GreenFuel Technologies, according to sources at Algae Systems. GreenFuel, a once high-profile startup that was spun out of Harvard and MIT, proposed growing algae in clear plastic bags in the desert. Growing algae proved more difficult than anticipated and, after raising over $70 million in venture capital, GreenFuel laid off all of its employees and called it quits about a year ago.
FUll article at link above.
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So far, there is no word on whether the algae is more likely to flourish if grown while the algae is hearing Mozart, or The Dead!
