phatj wrote: There is no free lunch.

phatj wrote:

Monkeyboy wrote:Some of it would go to oxygen and some of it to the biomass of algae. I would need to know how it works to say more. If the biomass is then burned to release the energy, then some of that would be released as CO2, some of which may be reused by the algae.

This is what I mean. Yeah, you can use photosynthesis to store the sun's energy, in the form of carbohydrates, which extracts CO2 from and releases O2 to the atmosphere, but then what? If you want to use the energy, you pretty much have to "burn" the carbs, whether by literal combustion or some sort of catalytic reaction. Either way, you're going to extract O2 and release CO2, so you're back where you started. There is no free lunch.

Monkeyboy wrote:This is just the beginning of this stuff and it does worry me a bit. Algae is seen by some people as a way to make fuels. The idea is to have huge algae farms that grow the algae and then process it as a lipid oil biofuel. It is then put in your car or whatever in the same way as fuel made from corn is used. It does little to help the environment because it releases CO2 and it keeps us from developing energy sources that aren't oil based. It does burn cleaner than fossil fuel, but that isn't saying much. But hey, at least the auto manufacturers and energy companies won't be hurt by having to adjust and compete with real alternative energy.

I don't know, I think this has promise. It's at least a closed cycle, unlike fossil fuels.

phatj wrote:http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/01/green-sea-slug/

This critter can make its own chlorophyll.

Makes me wonder why, evolutionarily speaking, this isn't common.

Luzinski's Gut wrote:Huh. Wonder why it's so blue.

The Dude wrote:dat gasss