[CarlosFerreira]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vtsnowedin', 'I')n nineteenth century new england manufacturing was concentrated around the falls of the rivers to use the water power. For example the woolen mills of Lowell Mass. Work scheduals were often adjusted to match the flow of the river. Perhaps the twenty first century will see mills built in the lee of a ridge with a windfarm on it and some activities will only be done when the wind is blowing. The factory with the shortest cord to the power will have the cheapest cost.

[vtsnowedin]

So the stuffy old UK government has subsidized the future while the USA dithers on installing solar panels on 100 million acres of desert waiting for an enviromental impact study to see if the rattle snakes will be over cooled by the increased shade.

[CarlosFerreira]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vtsnowedin', ':')wink: So the stuffy old UK government has subsidized the future while the USA dithers on installing solar panels on 100 million acres of desert waiting for an enviromental impact study to see if the rattle snakes will be over cooled by the increased shade.

[vtsnowedin]

I don't know the full value or truth of the "Story "as you put it. Heard it yesterday on Bloomberg TV. Stock analist picking a solar panel manf. said backlog of orders were all going over seas to Australia mostly as EIS had to be done in the American SW to protect the rabbits and lizards. With the US government and enviromental movement this is so stupid that it has to be true or mostly so.

[Curmudgicus]

Chevron is backing an algae producer to develop biofuel. Check it out.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02 ... lazyme.php

[vtsnowedin]

Looks like a venture capital ,get rich quick ,so get in on the ground floor scheme to me. Grow algae in the dark?? then the new energy in comes from where? Oh from sugar. where did the sugar come from, and what did they grow it with??
We need someone to grow and produce a million gallons of algae oil on a controlled site where all costs and energy inputs can be accounted for so we can prove the technology and get hard data on EROEI.
Perhaps the Dumbberment could guarantee a market for the oil at a known price so investors could access the risk. Should be better then leveraged structured investment vehicles backed by subprime morgages.

[Curmudgicus]

The folks that are thinking jet fuel and/or diesel right now are taking algae seriously. The following was in "Popular Mechanics," of all things, but the references do check out.

"Two years ago, there were less than a handful of companies chasing the next wave of so-called "pond scum" power. Today, there are dozens, many backed by big energy industry players such as Chevron and Shell. Last year, DARPA granted UOP $6.7 million to study how "second-generation" feedstocks, or nonfood crops, could turn into JP-8 jet fuel for U.S. Air Force and NATO fighters. Just this month, Airbus and JetBlue announced goals to replace 30 percent of jet fuel with second-gen biofuels by 2030. Air New Zealand and Dutch airline KLM have similar plans in the works. "

The reason is that Air Force money funded a breakthrough in bio-JP-8 from soybean feedstock (at U-ND) that wouldn't slurry until -60 degrees C. That university-acquired knowledge is being licensed to anyone who will try to mass-produce it. It offers the Air Force a sustainable fuel source for potential future conflicts - a HUGE concern for them, and it offers ailing airlines a way to hedge Jet-A in an increasingly hostile economic climate.

The US government study begun under Carter and killed by Clinton has a terrific amount of technical information in it. What it doesn't have is a road map to mass production. The Dutch are going for it, funded by Air France and KLM. In the US it's Boeing, Honeywell, Continental Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Air New Zealand.

Check these websites out as well:

http://www.algaefuels.org
http://www.oilgae.com/algae/oil/extract/extract.html

Everyone has blank areas in their knowledge, juxtaposed with areas of reasonable depth. From my job, I can definitely state that bio Jet-A from algae is becoming an intense focus within the aviation community. With respect to Peak Oil pain, we are ahead of the rest of the world by a substantial margin.