The sun is the base energy source for the Earth. What it emits is either absorbed or reflected. Observations showed some “missing energy” in this balance. Two years ago, scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., released a study claiming that inconsistencies between satellite observations of Earth’s heat and measurements of ocean heating amounted to evidence of missing energy in the planet’s system. Where was it going? Or, they wondered, was something wrong with the way researchers tracked energy as it was absorbed from the sun and emitted back into space? Well it was found. An international team of atmospheric scientists and oceanographers, led by Norman Loeb of NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., and including Graeme Stephens of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., set out to investigate the mystery.

The Earth’s climate is a solar powered system. Globally, over the course of the year, the Earth system—land surfaces, oceans, and atmosphere—absorbs an average of about 240 watts of solar power per square meter (one watt is one joule of energy every second). The absorbed sunlight drives photosynthesis, fuels evaporation, melts snow and ice, and warms the Earth system.

The Sun doesn’t heat the Earth evenly. Because the Earth is a sphere, the Sun heats equatorial regions more than polar regions. The atmosphere and ocean work non-stop to even out solar heating imbalances through evaporation of surface water, convection, rainfall, winds, and ocean circulation. This coupled atmosphere and ocean circulation is known as Earth’s heat engine.

The climate’s heat engine must not only redistribute solar heat from the equator toward the poles, but also from the Earth’s surface and lower atmosphere back to space. Otherwise, Earth would endlessly heat up. Earth’s temperature doesn’t infinitely rise because the surface and the atmosphere are simultaneously radiating heat to space. This net flow of energy into and out of the Earth system is Earth’s energy budget.

The researchers used 10 years of data – spanning 2001 to 2010 – from NASA Langley’s orbiting Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System Experiment (CERES) instruments to measure changes in the net radiation balance at the top of Earth’s atmosphere. The CERES data were then combined with estimates of the heat content of Earth’s ocean from three independent ocean-sensor sources.

Their analysis found that the satellite and ocean measurements are, in fact, in broad agreement once observational uncertainties are factored in.

“One of the things we wanted to do was a more rigorous analysis of the uncertainties,” Loeb said. “When we did that, we found the conclusion of missing energy in the system isn’t really supported by the data.”

“Our data show that Earth has been accumulating heat in the ocean at a rate of half a watt per square meter (10.8 square feet), with no sign of a decline,” Loeb said. “This extra energy will eventually find its way back into the atmosphere and increase temperatures on Earth.”

Scientists generally agree that 90 percent of the excess heat associated with increases in greenhouse gas concentrations gets stored in Earth’s ocean. If released back into the atmosphere, a half-watt per square meter accumulation of heat could increase global temperatures by 0.3 or more degrees centigrade (0.54 degree Fahrenheit).

Loeb said the findings demonstrate the importance of using multiple measuring systems over time, and illustrate the need for continuous improvement in the way Earth’s energy flows are measured.

Article by Andy Soos, appearing courtesy Environmental News Network.

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U.S. scientists say a next-generation weather satellite launched by NASA last week will provide critical new insights into global climate change.

The NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite, launched on Oct. 28, will orbit the planet at an altitude of 512 miles, traveling from the North Pole to the South Pole 14 times daily. While technically a NASA mission, the $1.5 billion satellite will provide key data for a series of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) projects, marking a key step in the creation of a U.S. climate monitoring system.

The project’s key objectives include creation of long-term global environmental data, daily measurements of the ozone layer, monitoring of changes to the planet’s sea ice and glaciers, and collection of data on air pollution.

Officials hope the satellite will serve as a bridge between NOAA’s current polar orbiting satellites and the next generation of satellites, the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). A series of delays and funding cuts, however, has pushed a launch of the JPSS project back to 2017 at the earliest, which U.S. scientists say could lead to a gap in satellite data.

Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.

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A drought that affected large areas of the Amazon rainforest in 2010 triggered the release of about 1.8 million tons of carbon dioxide, more than the total annual CO2 emissions of India, according to a new study.

After combining a NASA carbon cycle simulation model and satellite data that reflects the “greenness” — or light interception capacity — of forest canopies, researchers at the NASA Ames Research Center found that net primary production in some forest areas decreased by an average of 7 percent compared with 2008 data. The drought not only reduced the amount of CO2 absorbed by the rainforest, but the drying of normally flooded areas also released large amounts of CO2 through the decomposition of soil and dead wood.

According to the study, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, the results suggest “a more widespread and long-lasting impact to Amazonian forests than what could be inferred based solely on rainfall data.”

While the NASA scientists said the effects could ultimately be offset by plant growth when normal conditions resume, other researchers warn that an increase in severe droughts could portend the collapse of the Amazonian rainforest system.

Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.

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In addition to NASA's missions in space that amaze the world, our work in aeronautics continues to spur innovation and jobs.

NASA is providing the $1.65 million prize purse for the Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency (CAFE) Foundation Green Flight Challenge competition, sponsored by Google, taking place this week outside of Santa Rosa, Calif.

The purse is the largest aviation prize in history and attracted 13 teams, all led by American innovators. Three teams successfully completed aircraft and flight qualification requirements and are competing for the purse. Teams are flying electric and biofueled powered aircraft to prove they have the most fuel efficient, small aircraft in the world.

To win the competition, an aircraft must fly 200 miles in less than two hours and use less than one gallon of fuel per occupant, or the equivalent in electricity.

Why is NASA sponsoring the competition?

NASA-funded prize competitions establish an important goal without having to choose the approach or the team that is most likely to succeed. NASA pays only for results. The competitions highlight excellence in a particular domain of human endeavor to motivate, inspire, and guide others.

NASA prize competitions increase the number and diversity of the individuals, organizations, and teams that are addressing a particular problem or challenge of national or international. They stimulate private sector investment that is many times greater than the cash value of the prize, while furthering NASA's mission by attracting more interest and attention to a defined program, activity, or issue of concern. And they capture the public imagination and change their perception of what is possible.

Aerospace remains a strong component of our national fabric and is the largest positive contributor to our nation’s trade balance. However, this technological leadership position is not a given. To remain the leader in aerospace technology, we must continue to perform research and invest in the people who will create the breakthroughs of tomorrow.

The CAFE Green Flight Challenge, sponsored by Google, may be the birth of a new segment of the aviation industry. This competition represents the dawn of a new era in efficient flight and is the first time that full-scale electric aircraft have performed in competition. The technologies demonstrated by the winning plane may end up in general aviation aircraft, spawning new jobs and new industries for the 21st century.

For photos of the Green Flight Challenge, visit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto

Article by Charles Bolden, Administrator of NASA

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NASA will launch satellite technology next month that scientists say will provide a clearer understanding of how solar energy and aerosols affect Earth’s climate. Traveling at about 438 miles above the Earth over three years, the Glory satellite will collect data on the Sun’s total energy output and provide new details on the tiny aerosols that reflect and absorb those solar rays passing through the atmosphere.

Combined, the instrumentation will help scientists better understand the Earth’s overall “energy budget,” said Hal Maring, a NASA project scientist. “This really is a climate mission,” he said. “We’ve got to know how much energy is coming in, if it’s changing, and how that energy affects the climate system.” The mission is the first satellite-related component of President Obama’s initiative to better understand climate science.

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Often when going to the beach the common complaint is that the ocean is too cold. They appear to be warming up a bit. The upper layer of Earth’s ocean has warmed since 1993, indicating a strong climate change signal, according to a new international study co-authored by oceanographer Josh Willis of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The energy stored is enough to power nearly 500 100-watt light bulbs for each of the roughly 6.7 billion people on the planet.

“We are seeing the global ocean store more heat than it gives off,” said John Lyman, an oceanographer at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research, who led the study that analyzed nine different estimates of heat content in the upper ocean from 1993 to 2008.

The team combined the estimates to assess the size and certainty of growing heat storage in the ocean. Their findings will be published in the May 20 edition of the journal Nature. The scientists are from NASA, NOAA, the Met Office Hadley Center in the United Kingdom, the University of Hamburg in Germany and the Meteorological Research Institute in Japan.

“The ocean is the biggest reservoir for heat in the climate system,” said Willis. “So as the planet warms, we’re finding that 80 to 90 percent of the increased heat ends up in the ocean.”

A warming ocean is a direct cause of global sea level rise, since seawater expands and takes up more space as it heats up. The scientists say that this expansion accounts for about one-third to one-half of global sea level rise.

Combining multiple estimates of heat in the upper ocean — from the surface to about 610 meters (2,000 feet) down — the team found a strong multi-year warming trend throughout the world’s ocean. According to measurements by an array of autonomous free floating ocean floats called Argo, as well as by earlier devices called expendable bathythermographs, or XBTs, that were dropped from ships to obtain temperature data, ocean heat content has increased over the last 16 years.

The team notes that there are still some uncertainties and some biases.

Most people, when hearing or reading about a warm up of the world ocean, would naturally ask:  How much?  But to scientists who study phenomena like this, the problem is more complex. While they use ocean temperature readings taken from around the globe to conduct their studies on ocean warming, these scientists are interested in learning about the heat content of the world ocean’s enormous mass of water. Heat content is a measure of the heat energy imparted to a body such as a continent or the ocean. Scientists measure heat content in energy units known as joules.

Beginning in the 1970s, scientists at NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, New Jersey, started computing the annual cycle of ocean heat content. From the outset, scientists in the climate modeling community showed significant interest in the results of this work as a way to validate their general circulation models of ocean atmosphere interactions.

Article by Andy Soos appearing courtesy ENN

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A NASA-sponsored competition to design futuristic, fuel-efficient airplanes has led to a jet prototype that would burn roughly 70 percent less fuel than current aircraft.

Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology designed what they called a D-series “double bubble” jet, which features a wide fuselage composed of two partial cylinders fused together in an aerodynamic shape.

The prototype also has a smaller tail, skinnier wings, and engines mounted on the rear of the fuselage instead of the wings, which allows the engines to suck in slower-moving air and increase efficiency.

These changes and use of lighter materials help the plane burn 70 percent less fuel, the MIT team said. In addition to designing this subsonic model, the MIT team designed a supersonic model, as well, that they said would also sharply cut fuel consumption.

The NASA competition — known as “N+3” to denote three generations beyond today’s commercial fleet — also included designs from Boeing, GE Aviation, and Northrop Grumman. Air traffic is expected to double by 2035, and one MIT engineer said new designs were needed because “aircraft silhouettes have basically remained the same over the past 50 years.”

Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.

photo: MIT

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One of the benefits we noted when humanity first was able observe the earth from above our atmosphere, from outer space, is that it enabled us to gain a new perspective on how very special our planet is. Viewed from a distance, it is obvious that we are all living in one global environment. And from a distance, this environment doesn’t look as vast as it does from our vantage point on earth.

The land looks more precious, the seas less like unlimited places to discharge our wastes, and the atmosphere, less like a place to emit air pollution at night so no one sees it, to the fragile envelope which, more than anything, makes earth the special place it is.

Indeed, it is the atmosphere that permits life as we know it to flourish on earth. And we owe most of this new knowledge to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration!

Begun in 1970, Earth Day is the annual celebration of the environment and a time to assess work still needed to protect the natural resources of our planet. NASA maintains the world’s largest contingent of dedicated Earth scientists and engineers in leading and assisting other agencies in preserving the planet’s environment.

NASA began celebrating the 40th anniversary of Earth Day on the National Mall in Washington on Sat., April 17. Included in the eventswas the ‘NASA Village,’ which contains three domed tents, highlighting the use of NASA science and technology to advance knowledge and awareness about our home planet and sustain our environment.

Other events are also scheduled at NASA centers in California, Ohio, Maryland, Virginia, Alabama, and Mississippi:

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Thurs., April 22 (10-11 a.m. PDT) — A live, text-based Earth Day Web chat geared toward students in third through eighth grades will feature Mike Gunson, project scientist for NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 mission, who will answer questions about how NASA is studying Earth’s climate.

Sat. and Sun., April 24-25 (9 a.m.-5 p.m. PDT) — JPL will join the Earth Day celebration at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, Calif. The event will include exhibits and handouts on NASA’s Earth science research.

Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif.

Wed., April 28 (10 a.m.-2 p.m. PDT) — Highlights include exhibits and displays from a variety of environmental agencies, public utilities, conservation groups and businesses, and an opportunity to recycle personal electronics.

Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va.

Thurs., April 22 (4-5 p.m. EDT) — NASA scientist Thomas Charlock will discuss global climate change with teachers during a live webcast on the Digital Learning Network at: http://dln.nasa.gov/dln.

Sat., April 24 (10 a.m.-3 p.m. EDT) — Exhibits and speakers will be at the Virginia Zoo’s “Party for the Planet: Earth Day at the Zoo” in Norfolk, Va.

Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.

Thurs., April 22 (10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. CDT) — Activities on the theme “reducing our carbon footprint” include a talk about energy by an expert from the Tennessee Valley Authority, a tree-planting ceremony and an environmental vendor exposition.

Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss.

Tues., April 27 (8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. CDT) — An environmental workshop for elementary school teachers, “Helping Our Planet Earth: It’s Up to You and Me,” includes classroom activities about animal habitats, “green” tips, recycling and other topics.

For a comprehensive listing of NASA’s Earth Day activities, visit NASA.gov/earthday.

Article by Roger Greenway appearing courtesy Environmental News Network.

photo: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

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For more than 40 years, scientists have dreamed of collecting the sun’s energy in space and beaming it back to Earth. Now, a host of technological advances, coupled with interest from the U.S. military, may be bringing that vision close to reality.

Despite the enormous promise of solar power, the drawbacks of the technology remain significant. People need electricity every day, around the clock, but there’s no part of the United States that is cloud-free 365 days a year — and no solar radiation at night. You have to find some way to store the energy for those sunless periods, and there’s not yet a large-scale way to do that.

Moreover, the best locations for solar arrays — the deserts of the American Southwest — are far from the centers of population, so even under the best of circumstances you’d have to send electricity many hundreds of miles through transmission lines that don’t yet exist.

But there is a way to tap into the sun’s energy 24 hours a day, every day of the year, and send it anywhere on the globe: Launch solar panels into space and beam the power back to Earth.

The concept sounds far-fetched and wildly impractical, and when the Pentagon and space enthusiasts began talking about it back in the 1960s and 1970s, it was. Recently, however, the idea of space-based solar power, or SBSP, has begun to look less like science fiction and more like a technology whose time may be coming, with the Pentagon and private companies ramping up efforts to make space-based solar power a reality.

Two years ago, the Pentagon’s National Security Space Office (NSSO) issued a report recommending that the U.S. “begin a coordinated national program to develop SBSP.” A year ago, engineers did a small but successful experiment using some of the technology that will be employed in SBSP, taking energy from solar cells, converting it to microwaves, and then beaming it 92 miles from Maui to the Big Island of Hawaii, where it was converted back into 20 watts worth of electricity.

And last spring, the California-based Solaren Corporation signed a contract with Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) to provide 200 megawatts of power — about half the output of an average coal-fired power plant — by 2016 by launching solar arrays into space. Several other companies have announced their intentions to put up solar satellites of their own.

Doubts abound that space-based solar power will come to pass anytime soon, and for good reason: The technology involves launching a series of large satellites into space, using robotic technology to assemble the solar arrays, transmitting the energy 22,000 miles to earth using microwave technology, and then converting that energy to electricity on the ground.

The fact is, however, that all of that is now feasible — if pricey — thanks to technological advances in recent years. These include cheaper and more reliable launch technology, lighter and stronger materials for solar stations, significant improvements in the robotic technology needed to assemble the solar arrays, far more efficient solar cells, more precise digital devices to direct that energy accurately to earth, and significantly smaller and more powerful microwave transmitters and receivers.

The big question is whether this engineering feat can be pulled off at a price competitive with terrestrial solar power. So far, the Pentagon’s estimate of what it will cost — $10 billion to put a 10-megawatt experimental solar station in orbit by 2016 — is five times higher than Solaren’s and would produce far less power.

A number of factors are driving the renewed interest in space-based solar power, including the push to cut greenhouse-gas emissions and growing interest from the military. But neither of these forces would mean much if the technology was outrageously expensive or too impractical.

It was a little bit of both when SBSP was first proposed in 1968 by an engineer named Peter Glaser, who worked for the consulting firm Arthur D. Little on a variety of space-related projects. The basic components — solar cells and microwave transmitters and receivers — already existed, and as the Apollo program began to wind down, NASA was trying to figure out what to do next.

In particular, says John Mankins, who became the manager for advanced concepts for NASA during the 1990s, “They were trying to figure out what to do with the space shuttle.” One idea was to begin launching space habitats — to get large numbers of people living and working in space. “These people would need something to do,” says Mankins, “so one idea was that they’d build solar-power satellites.”

Studies showed that it was a feasible, but daunting, proposition. “This was in the days before PCs, microelectronics, robotics,” says Mankins. “The idea of something like the shuttle’s robotic arm was unimaginable. So you’d need these big crews to bolt the things together — and the satellites themselves would have had to be physically enormous. We’d need a new launch system that would dwarf the space shuttle.”

The bottom line, he says, was that it could be done, but it would have cos the equivalent of a trillion of today’s dollars to get the first kilowatt of power, and it would have taken 20 years. “The National Research Council and the Office of Technology Assessment looked at it,” recalled Mankins. “One of them said, ‘Let’s revisit this in ten years.’ The other said, ‘Let’s never consider this again.’”

In the mid-1990s, NASA did revisit the concept. Under Mankins’ direction, a team of engineers was assembled to see whether advances in technology made space-based solar power more feasible. “The basic answer,” he says, “was ‘yes.’”

In the past decade two other factors have emerged to boost the prospects of SBSP: climate change and interest from the military.

There is a growing recognition that non-carbon energy sources will be crucial if the world is going to avoid the worst effects of climate change. It’s almost inevitable that carbon emissions will end up being taxed one way or another, and when they are, renewables like SBSP will immediately become more competitive economically.

That’s what motivates Solaren and PG&E. Although it is cloaking its work in secrecy, Solaren has said it will cost roughly $2 billion to launch a handful of satellites carrying the equipment that will be robotically assembled into a single, large solar station. One way the company plans to boost efficiency is to use parabolic reflectors to concentrate sunlight onto the solar cells.

“The biggest expense,” says Cal Boerman, Solaren’s director of energy services, “is the cost of getting into space, and we’re convinced we can get the weight down to the point where we can do this with a minimum number of launches.”

As with any SBSP system, the energy will be converted into microwaves and beamed down to a so-called rectenna — an antenna that “rectifies” the microwaves back into electricity. Solaren’s, to be located near Fresno, Calif., will consist of an array of smaller antennas that will cover about a square kilometer — far less real estate than you’d need if you were using ground-based solar cells to gather an equivalent amount of power.

Because Solaren’s satellite will be in geostationary orbit, the antennas won’t have to track it across the sky; like a satellite TV receiver, they’ll always aim at a fixed point in the sky. At 22,000 miles up, a geostationary satellite is in full sunlight virtually all the time.

As for safety, he says, the fact that the microwaves are spread out over a square kilometer means that they’d be relatively harmless to, say, a flock of birds that happened to fly through them. And if the beam should wander, the satellite will be programmed to scatter it.

Solaren isn’t the only company trying to commercialize SBSP: PowerSat, based in Everett, Wash., has recently filed patents for its own space-power system, which will use an array of hundreds of small satellites linked together rather than one large one. PowerSat says it can reduce some of the high costs of putting the technology in space by using solar energy to power electronic thrusters to maneuver the satellites into orbit. A Swiss company, Space Energy, is also working on SBSP. Solaren is the only one, though, with a contract with a utility. “As we talked to investors,” says Boerman, “they naturally asked, ‘Can you sell it?’”

If this first project works out, Solaren eventually wants to put in orbit satellites that can generate a gigawatt of electricity, enough to power roughly 1 million homes.

Such futuristic schemes have understandably generated a great deal of skepticism. Space experts have been debating the issue online, with some arguing that Solaren’s project will be far more expensive than the company estimates, in part because it could take more than a dozen launches — not just four, as the company stated — to get the solar station into space.

But the military’s interest in SBSP could give a major boost to the technology. According to Marine Corps Lt. Col. Paul Damphousse, Chief of Advanced Concepts for the National Security Space Office, the military is interested in SBSP for two main reasons.

The first, he said, is that “we’re obviously interested in energy security, and we’re also interested in weaning ourselves off fossil fuels because climate change could pose national security risks.” But there would also be a tactical advantage to space-based solar, Damphousse noted. When the military is operating in remote regions of countries like Iraq or Afghanistan, it uses diesel generators to supply forward bases with power.

“We have a significant footprint getting energy in,” says Damphousse, noting the need for frequent convoys of oil tankers, the soldiers to protect them, and air support — all of which is expensive and dangerous.

Being able to tap into power beamed directly down from space would clearly have a lot of appeal, says Damphousse, even if it were relatively costly. And it’s not just useful for the battlefield, he says, but also for areas affected by natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina.

For those reasons, Damphousse supports the idea of coordinated studies by the Pentagon and other agencies — such as NASA and the Department of Energy — that would have a stake in space-based power.

“We might, for example, do some experiments on the International Space Station, which is already up there and generating 110 kilowatts of power from its own solar cells,” he says, “rather than having to send up a dedicated test satellite.”

Such cooperation might appeal to NASA. “I suspect that NASA will start working on energy and on more advanced technology and less on, ‘Let’s get to the moon by 2018,’” says Mankins.

By undertaking some of the research and being an early customer for SBSP, the government could rapidly accelerate development of the technology. Historians of aviation agree that the government’s decision to back air mail played a major role in developing the aircraft industry, leading to technological innovations and economies of scale. The same phenomenon could take an emerging but outlandish-sounding technology and push it into the energy mainstream.

Author Michael D. Lemonick is the senior writer at Climate Central, a nonpartisan organization whose mission is to communicate climate science to the public.

Article appearing courtesy of Yale Environment 360.

[photo credit: Mafia Studios, Inc.]

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By Jonathan Williams

During this past summer, the world has seen multiple advances in the alternative energy field, particularly with algae biofuels. A week hasn’t gone by where I didn’t receive several press releases in my inbox highlighting the latest advances by one of the many algae companies out there.

However, while press releases look and sound good, nothing highlights the advances of a company, if not the entire field, than the announcement of a multi-million dollar partnership with a larger, well-known, and respected entity.

During this summer we saw just that, with multiple algae companies announcing their partnerships with larger corporations or entities.

To give you a brief overview on these partnerships, first came Algenol with their partnership with Dow Chemical researching algae as an ethanol fuel source. Next came Seambiotic with their announcement that they will be partnering with NASA to develop a jet fuel from algae. Most recently, and probably most importantly, was Exxon Mobil’s $600 million partnership with Synthetic Genomics to conduct extensive research on algae biofuels.

Without going too much into detail about any one partnership and instead looking at the larger trend, it would seem like there has been a distinct shift in the market where algae is finally being viewed as an extremely viable and lucrative source of fuel. With Exxon Mobil pledging $600 million towards algae research in their partnership with Synthetic Genomics, one has to wonder whether or not this may be an eminent turning point for the future of algae.

However, while I have my own opinions on what this means for the blossoming algae industry, I have decided to hold back and instead publish some quotes from various leaders in the algae field.

Here is the question I asked several algae industry leaders concerning these recent partnerships:

“How do you feel the recent partnerships of algae companies with larger organizations will affect the algae field as a whole and the overall energy market?”

The following is a compilation of several answers in their entirety to the above question.

The first reply comes from Riggs Eckelberry, the CEO of OriginOil .

“We have seen our own partnership activity increase tremendously lately. The Exxon Mobil announcement was a big factor, but DOE also has a very important new program that is bringing us together with larger organizations.

To us, this means that the algae sector is finally beginning to engage its true potential. We are exiting the pioneer phase and getting into real commercialization. The field of algae companies is about to experience a dotcom-like expansion that will last for the next five years at least. It will of course contract, but in the process we will have built an industry.

Large companies are coming around to the realization that we could have a real competitor to petroleum here. Do the math, and you want to be where the action is, because competing with petroleum to any degree will unleash massive positive consequences.”

The next reply comes from Mr. Noam Menczel, Director of Investor’s Relations & Business Development at the Israel-based algae firm Seambiotic .

“The recent spate of partnerships between the leading algae companies and industrial heavyweights is most heartening as it validates the progress that is being made in the field algae biofuels. Companies like Seambiotic are now moving from research to pilot opportunities and that is what is bringing in the big guns.”

The following answer comes from Barrie Leay, the Chairman of New Zealand-based Aquaflow .

“The existing fossil derived liquid fuel market is very large with trillions of dollars invested over the past 100 years. It is therefore logical that big investors will have to enter the biofuel industry sooner or later, as declining oil reserves, ’peak oil’, global warming, and steadily escalating prices, will inevitably drive many others players to enter this new and exciting industry, particularly now that we have demonstrated empirically that biofuels from algae can now be produced  at scale.

Aquaflow have spent four good years discovering how to harvest and convert tons of microalgae per day to biocrude; And then to biodiesel, biopetrol and biojet fuel, all into totally ’fungible’ drop in fuels, and all of which is on the record.

There are no short cuts for big companies, they too will have to ascend the learning curve themselves, or with the very few players who have acquired the experience, knowledge and skills to turn microalgae into biofuels. Very many millions were spent unsuccessfully over recent decades trying to crack this ‘Gordian knot’. The important breakthroughs have only been made very recently to demonstrate that it is possible, practical and economic.”

This last reply comes from Mark Edwards, author of the award winning book “Green Algae Strategy.”

“The algal industry needs inertia and these partnership[s] create buzz, energy and will move the industry forward. Activity is good and the PR generated is great for the industry.

The downside remains that the large companies plan to control the IP for basic algal cultivation and production which will restrict access and engagement from the larger community. Economists, e.g. Joe Bane and others, have documented repeatedly that innovation comes not from the large companies but the individuals and small companies at the edges of industry, e.g. steel, communications, computers and food. Monsanto and two other large firms already own 90% of the transgenic seeds that provide for our food supply. Each of these large firms is stacking up IP in hope that they can control access. We need public funded R&D and we need open source technologies to ignite the algal industry for food, fuels, pollution solutions and novel solutions.”

As you can see from the above quotes, the opinions on this issue are very diverse. However, most view these partnerships as positive with Edwards offering a more cautionary word or two as well. Overall, I agree with the consensus that these partnerships will help bring the necessary funds, attention and legitimacy to this fairly young industry. With these three needs satisfied, algae fuels should be set on a path to become a very competitive fuel.

By Jonathan Williams, appearing courtesy of Celsias.

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