Algae as a Biofuel Still Rough Around the Edges

Upon trying to satisfy some curiosities about algae energy after Friday's field trip, I stumbled across this article in ScienceNews: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/55665/title/Algae_as_biofuel_still_rough_around_the_edges

The article essentially states what our guide at the research center was telling us. Algae is a very promising method of producing energy, but is far too inefficient at this point to compete with other alternative fuels. ScienceNews reports that a study done by the University of Virginia in Charlottesville has shown that algae plants which use fertilizers to "feed" algae CO2 actually end up in the red for their carbon footprint. Furthermore, the article states that the only regions in which algae outperforms other crop productions such as corn or switchgrass is in land use and nutrient runoff.

The article proposes an interesting solution to the trade-offs of algae production. It states that, in order to minimize the need for CO2 and fertilizers to be fed to the algae crop, the algae plant could be located next to industrial facilities that emit large amounts of CO2, or wastewater plants that can provide chemical fertilizers to the crop.