Spanish scientists search for fuel of the future

Spanish scientists search for fuel of the future

news.yahoo.com

The microalgae reproduces at high speed in the tubes by photosynthesis and from the CO2...this highly concentrated liquid is extracted and filtered to produce a biomass that is turned into bio-oil. The other great advantage of the system is that it is a depollutant -- it absorbs the C02...

"In a unit that covers 50 square kilometres...in barren regions of southern Spain, we could produce about 1.25 million barrels per day," or almost as much as the daily export of oil from Iraq.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Finally some positive news!! This is an amazing bit of technology that uses micro-algae as a type of solar cell that produces oil and uses up CO2. Hopefully it is as far along as they claim it is.

America uses about 20 million barrels a day (according to answers.com & ask.com) So, using 386 square miles of land, we could completely take care of all the oil needs of the US.

Additionally, this means that energy can be produced more locally than original fossil fuels, and it would remove foreign oil dependence, while being relatively good for the environment. (cycles the CO2 from the air to the fuel and back to the air = carbon neutral).

Brilliant! Let's get on it!

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

As long as it's not going to impact our food chain I am all for it!

It is rather sad that this is actually real news... since the idea for it was spoken of many years ago.... but then, we know who controls the dialog about energy, don't we?

Great news. I hope it comes to surface world wide, but unfortunately my gut tells me the Oil tycoons will use their massive amounts of wealth to push it under the rug or find some way to spin it into some BS saying it's not a good idea or whatever their excuses are.

I mean while spain is researching alternative energy resources the US is in the middle east securing all the oil fields they can. Sad really.

Big oil will not let this go anywhere I think anyways. It would be a win win situation if this worked and could get the funding needed. Really I still think oil is abeotic but its worth more if no one knows that. Gods speed to them I hope for the best from this.

Fuel of the future? Liquid fuel is an archaic concept. Electricity is better. Thorium nuclear plants and electric cars that can go 500 miles/charge while being able to fully charge in minutes is the future.

reply to post by pirhanna

While I think renewable resources is a noble endeavor, this solution to our energy issues world wide is more of a "bandaid" approach. Since burning fuels causes the issue with CO2 and CO in our atmosphere. Which still contributes to the problem at large.
It is a step in the right direction.
Whether it will be a "cheap" alternative, is yet to be seen.
Similar claims were made about alcohol too, and as it turned out, cars that use it get poorer fuel economy(therefore needing to use more), and it costs about the same as gasoline at the pump.

There is no 'fuel of the future'. There is no progress. We are living at the tail end of the time of cheap, accessible fuel. Our technologies are unsustainable.