Originally posted by LazarusTheLong
I apologize... I assumed that when "longs" is plural, that it means two or more...
What? Didn't you see the--
(reads back, the entire thread this time)
Oh hell.
First off, my apologies to
longbow and
LazarusTheLong, I actually did something quite stupid in implicating you both, quite mistakenly,
when I was in fact only targeting
Long Lance, but had quite accidentally read his various posts as three different people. While I realized it
in time to do a quick edit to exclude
LazarusTheLong, I had, for some reason, mixed up
longbow in the list of bad responses, and thus,
the plural
"longs". In point of fact, it was one person,
Long Lance at whom I was upset, and as his title is
"Thread Killer",
I suspect he is quite pleased with his work.
I sincerely apologize for the misunderstanding, however, as had I been paying a little bit closer
attention in the first place, I would not have derailed the thread myself.
Okay, back on topic...
Originally posted by LazarusTheLong
I am interested in this algae biodiesel method being looked into...
are there fears that the saline origin of this fuel, might cause problems with the engines?
First, here's a great article: It's a tad lengthy, but here is the meat of not only what you are asking, but the
current capabilities of
algae farms producing oil. I recommend reading the entire paper and all references. I've been following this work like a hawk, and you'll find that
this pretty much sums up everything I've been saying.
from Michael Briggs, University of New Hampshire, Physics Department
...From the results of the Aquatic Species Program2, algae farms would let us supply enough biodiesel to completely replace petroleum as a
transportation fuel in the US (as well as its other main use - home heating oil) - but we first have to solve a few of the problems they
encountered along the way.
NREL's research focused on the development of algae farms in desert regions, using shallow saltwater pools for growing the algae. Using saltwater
eliminates the need for desalination, but could lead to problems as far as salt build-up in bonds. Building the ponds in deserts also leads to
problems of high evaporation rates. There are solutions to these problems, but for the purpose of this paper, we will focus instead on the potential
such ponds can promise, ignoring for the moment the methods of addressing the solvable challenges remaining when the Aquatic Species Program at NREL
ended.
NREL's research showed that one quad (7.5 billion gallons) of biodiesel could be produced from 200,000 hectares of desert land (200,000 hectares is
equivalent to 780 square miles, roughly 500,000 acres), if the remaining challenges are solved (as they will be, with several research groups and
companies working towards it, including ours at UNH). In the previous section, we found that to replace all transportation fuels in the US, we would
need 140.8 billion gallons of biodiesel, or roughly 19 quads (one quad is roughly 7.5 billion gallons of biodiesel). To produce that amount would
require a land mass of almost 15,000 square miles. To put that in perspective, consider that the Sonora desert in the southwestern US comprises
120,000 square miles. Enough biodiesel to replace all petroleum transportation fuels could be grown in 15,000 square miles, or roughly 12.5 percent
of the area of the Sonora desert (note for clarification - I am not advocating putting 15,000 square miles of algae ponds in the Sonora desert.
This hypothetical example is used strictly for the purpose of showing the scale of land required). That 15,000 square miles works out to roughly
9.5 million acres - far less than the 450 million acres currently used for crop farming in the US, and the over 500 million acres used as grazing
land for farm animals...
I believe that pretty much says it all. The people who think biodiesel would require us to "strip the land of all biomass" have absolutely zero idea
of what they are talking about, and that was the reason I was so upset at such baseless claims. It is only the parrotted lies against the biodiesel
industry by the ignorant that has kept the biodiesel industry from moving forward at an insanely fast rate. Such ignorance, especially on the part of
people who would both frequenting a site like this, and then to turn it around and ask us what the motto of the site is, just really piss me off.
Hence what happened earlier.
Originally posted by LazarusTheLong
also, with wind powered hydrogen generation, the infrastructure becomes very easy, and independant...
I'm not bashing on hydrogen power at all. Far from it. I really hope it takes off, and that they overcome the other problems and that it gets a
chance. But to be honest, I think it becoming a viable solution is further away than the next major oil crisis. Whereas biodiesel, on the other hand,
has a much better chance of being capable of full implementation on a more rapid scale.
Originally posted by LazarusTheLong
Hydrogen- requires minimal land, and very safe, clean
biodiesel- easy to convert older diesel engines, uses a waste product for fuel
Both have alot of things going for them... so why not use both?
Absolutely! In point of fact, I hope they end up in healthy competition with each other to produce the best results, and an ever-evolving technology.
/Ignore. I don't have to deal with unreasonable critics who don't even read all the materials I post. 
