Algae farms make case for Kyoto - Toronto Star

[applegrove]

Algae farms make case for Kyoto
Feb. 6, 2006. 07:05 AM
TYLER HAMILTON
Toronto Star


"Algae. They're green. They're slimy. They could be Canada's best hope for complying with Kyoto.

.... SKIP

Fact is, algae love CO{-2}. These microscopic plants just guzzle it up, so much so that, under adequate sunlight, they can double their mass in hours when that appetite is fed. In the process, they also consume healthy amounts of nitrogen oxide, another environmental bonus for power polluters looking to clean up their act.

And it turns out algae can be made into a number of products. They contain starch for making ethanol; lipids for making biodiesel and certain plastics; and proteins that can be processed into animal feed. The dried algae has roughly the same energy content of sub-bituminous coal, and could be used directly as a fuel for heating.

Routinely harvesting the right strain of algae from a 200-, 400-, even 2,000-hectare (5,000-acre) farm could supply a number of emerging markets. Suddenly, complying with Kyoto becomes a business opportunity.

... SNIP"

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1139179810174&call_page=TS_Business&call_pageid=968350072197&call_pagepath=Business/News&pubid=968163964505

[slor]

1. I love this...

this is such good news!

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. This is promising but...

We have screwed up our natural carbon sinks so badly and melted enough glaciers that I am not sure we could put up enough farms of that sort to make a difference.

Still, I think it is worth trying. (As is hemp farming so we can leave more forests standing. Ticks me off to no end that hemp growing is illegal in the USA.)

[Ready4Change]

5. My Grandfather grew hemp during WW2.

Government paid him to do so. Mostly used for rope. After the war ended he converted the fields back to corn, soybeans, etc...

But he couldn't get rid of the hemp. It grew (still grows, I assume) like weeds all around the edges of his fields. Looks so much like pot that every couple of years he'd stumble across a pak of kids, green to the gills, trying to get high off of it. He always got a chuckle over those stupid kids.

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. And there is the lame excuse why we don't farm it. Not the true reason,

which is that the forestry and cotton industry and such wouldn't want to lose their piece of the pie, but the official reason none-the-less.

[slor]

7. H.B. 3037 can fix that...

Here is the link: <http://www.votehemp.com/legislation.html>

[dysfunctional press]

3. algae farms can produce 15,000 gallons of bio-diesel per acre...

soybeans only get 60 gallons per acre, and hemp is even less.

algae rules.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/01/11/tech/main1202264_page2.shtml

[applegrove]

4. Thanks for the article.

[SidDithers]

8. Kick...nt

Sid