In this video Ken Cohen, VP of public affairs for Exxon Mobil, briefly explains the prospect of growing algae for biofuels. This test facility that he is talking about is one so scientists can research the capability of algae providing affordable fuel. There are many aspects of algae that are beneficial and exciting for the future. For one, and most obviously it would lower dependence on fossil fuels. It also could reduce carbon emissions in its own production. Arguably the most beneficial aspect is that it does not require land or water suitable for agriculture which takes away the controversy in certain biofuels because they are taking away land from food production. The downside is that this does not seem to be a feasible possibility anytime soon being that Cohen said it would take much research and development to produce.
Just thought id include a fun fact that "According to an article posted on Yahoo! Finance, Exxon Mobil’s third quarter revenue of $99.59 billion is greater than the annual gross domestic product (GDP) of both the United Arab Emirates ($98.1 billion) and Kuwait ($52.76 billion)" (http://www.dailyfueleconomytip.com/oil-prices/exxon-mobil-posts-second-highest-quarterly-profit-ever)
Sorry y'all...for some reason the quote turned out black....it was supposed to say:
ReplyDelete"According to an article posted on Yahoo! Finance, Exxon Mobil’s third quarter revenue of $99.59 billion is greater than the annual gross domestic product (GDP) of both the United Arab Emirates ($98.1 billion) and Kuwait ($52.76 billion)" (http://www.dailyfueleconomytip.com/oil-prices/exxon-mobil-posts-second-highest-quarterly-profit-ever)"
We'll see this in the flesh Friday! Also to note with regard to money, algae and Exxon Mobil - they recently invested $600 million into algal biofuels. I think they mean "business".
ReplyDeleteAlthough the tour yesterday led me to believe that Algae biofuel is currently not the way to go, after reading a couple of articles there are lots of benefits from algae. first to grow the algae you would need far less land and water compared to other biofuel sources like corn. like the tour guide said 1 to 3% of U.S. land would be used to make 50% of the petroleum-based fuels in the U.S. better yet algae could be grown in arid infertile land, so we won't be taking away land used for other crops like corn. also compared to other crops algae grows at a much faster rate. plus algae needs carbon dioxide to grow. so we could place it next to a power plant and reduce the plants emissions while producing algae. after reading these articles i can see why many people want algae biofuel to work.
ReplyDeletewebsite: http://www.themonitor.com/articles/algae-3094-fuel-research.html