Algae Makes Cheap, Green, Fuel

Could this soon power your car? howstuffworks.com

CSIRO Energy Transformed researcher Dr Tom Beer and his team discovered the humble organisms’ green credentials during a detailed life-cycle analysis of the benefits of algal biodiesel.

“Our research has shown that under ideal conditions it is possible to produce algal biodiesel at a lower cost and with less greenhouse gas emissions than fossil diesel,” Dr Beer said.

“The greenhouse gas reductions are the result of avoiding the use of a fossil resource for fuel production, capturing methane produced by the processed algae to generate energy and taking into account the potential greenhouse gas offsets from industry.”

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Tags

The Environment, algae, CSIRO, environment, fuel, green fuel

Algal biodiesel could also offer a number of other benefits.

“Making biodiesel from algae removes the issue of competing land use because the facilities would not be established on land that might otherwise be used to grow food and the algal farm has a very low environmental impact in comparison to crops that are grown for biodiesel,” Dr Beer said.

“Our study also found that the establishment of a 500 hectare algal biodiesel plant in a rural area might create up to 45 jobs and provide opportunities to diversify in the agricultural sector.”

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Story from ScienceAlert.com.au

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