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Green Algae Strategy: End Oil Imports And Engineer Sustainable Food And Fuel

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Green Algae Strategy is a very interesting book regarding possible solutions to the earth's energy, food, fuel, clean water and pollution issues. If you do not know much or anything about algae there is no need to worry. This book provides substantial information on what algae has been used for, ranging form the red dye used to color the uniforms of Rome's infamous legionnaires to food for amebas. But it is not just a back ground of what algae has done in the past, it uses that information to set a base for the rest of the book, it goes into great detail of what algae can do for us immediately, tomorrow, and well into the future.
His four main points are these:

1. An end to oil imports
2. An end to American and global hunger
3. An end to the need to burn fossil fuels
4. Recapture of the carbon released in burned fossil fuels

How much time money and resources are spent over the problem of importing all of the oil that the United States needs? Billions of dollars are spent to import this so-called black gold, not to mention the refining process, the taxes, and most recently the war, which seems to be the underlying cause. Well this book can and will help us end our dependence on foreign oil imports.

The world is starving to death. There is not enough food to go around, not enough clean water, and millions of people are starving and dying because of lack of knowledge, farmland, clean water, and nutrition. Algae can provide everything that these people lack. It cleans water, has a high nutrition value, and is easily grown anywhere in the world as long as it has access to sunshine.

The burning of fossil fuels is killing our planet and consequently it is killing us. We all know that this is caused by the release of pollutants from the burning of the fossil fuels. Algae burn hotter than our traditional fossil fuels and burns clean. So it is a win win situation. A more efficient form of energy that burns clean. Sign me up.

Lastly, algae is very efficient at replenishing the earths oxygen supply. It is 2-5 times more effective than trees at doing this.

So to recap, algae can end foreign oil imports, stop world hunger, clean up our nasty water supply, is more efficient and burns cleaner than fossil fuels, and cleans the air which we breathe, why is this not being invested in by our government and everyone all over the world.

I am a fan of this book and all of the ideas, which it has pertaining to the salvation of our planet. Buy it, read it and for gods sake use the information, which it give us.

Seldom have so many problems, the energy crisis, our reliance on oil from foreign countries, global warming, and increasing food production for a hungry world, seen a simple solution. Yet, algae may be that solution. This book describes how that can happen. It describes the problems and solutions that algae to energy offers. It provides detailed descriptions of algae.

The problems that algae may provide are fascinating. Algae has been neglected from many energy research efforts, which is a mistake, according to the author. It has no carbon footprint since it consumes carbon dioxide (i.e. greenhouse gases) and produces oxygen. It can grow easily, in fact, it is one of the fastest growing species. It can be converted into energy.

If the U.S. switches to green algae for oil, it would no longer need to use fossil fuels. It would no longer need to buy oil from other countries. These could become tremendous positive consequence through reducing air pollution, global warming, and ending reliance on energy from countries with negative geopolitical consequences.

1.8 pounds of CO2 is consumed by every pound of algae biomass.

Algae, which is 0.5% of the Earth's plant biomass, produces 60% of
oxygen.

20 pounds of algal biomass may yield 9 pounds of fuel oil. The oil can be directly used in diesel engines with few resulting pollutants. This biodiesel is 30% more energy efficient than gas, in addition to producing far less pollution.

Some CO2 is released when algae is burned as oil, yet far less CO2 is released compared to burning other fuels.

Locating algae near a CO2 producing source, such as a coal using manufacturer, can increase the speed algae grows up to five times faster.

The ethanol energy alternative uses corn. In a world with growing food demand and food shortages in parts of the world, more corn will be needed to feed people than for fuel.

One acre of algae can yield 5,000 gallons of oil per year and, since its burns 30% to 50% more hotly than does gasoline, can produce 6,500 gallons of energy equivalent to gasoline.

By contrast, one acre of corn can produce 18 gallons of oil per year, which can be converted through starch fermentation to yield 350 gallons of ethanol, which can then produce 224 gallons of energy equivalent to gasoline.

No other fuel comes close to what algae can produce. The amounts of gallons of oil per acre yielded annually are 610 for palm oil, 276 for coconut, 194 for jatropha, 122 for rapeseed, 105 for cacao, 98 for sunflowers, and 46 for soybeans.

There has been a political decision that American research favor corn producers. There are no Federal government grants for algae research since the 1990s. Private sector research in algae was $29 million in 2007 and $84 million in 2008.

It would take 13 million acres, or 3% of U.S. cropland, to produce the same amount of oil as the .U.S. imports. Converting algae to oil, though, will not require using any existing cropland. This will also allow 40 million acres of corn, currently being converted to ethanol, to be grown for food.

Algae will need nutrients to grow. Algae growth requires sunlight. It will likely need to be mixed so algae underneath the algae on top can receive sunlight. Algae can grow in any type of water, including wastewater.

Some algae are 60% protein and some can be eaten. Most algae, though, present digestive challenges. Some taste baldy and some have no taste. Some algae, served as dulse, dilsk, or sol, is sold in Ireland, Asia, and coastal America. Algae can help feed cattle and aquaculture. This all can reduce the demand for cropland.

Algae development patents have been granted to Monsanto in the U.S., BASF in Germany, and Syngenta in Switzerland. A number of other firms are researching algae, including Raytheon.

Mark Edwards book "Green Algae Strategy" provides another option in our nations' search for ways to "go green". Edwards outlines nicely the pros of further development in the area of using algae as a form of fuel and food. Algae is a CO2 rich plant, it removes CO2 from the air and creates pure oxygen. The use of algae helps solve many problems facing the world today such as excessive CO2 emissions, limited fuel stores (reduce importing), and world-wide hunger.

With changes in technology happening daily, it is a good time to introduce possible alternative fuels that can provide more energy efficient and clean ways of running our cars, heating our homes, and feeding our families. Unfortunately, developing new concepts of energy production takes time, however, this book gives a great guideline of how algae can be cultivated, used, and mainstreamed as long as we all are open to change and dedicated to improving our environment.

There are some drawbacks of using algae, it may be difficult to convince people to allow algae to cover large bodies of water and to use algae in many of the foods we consume daily. Most people have a negative perception of algae which would take time to overcome before it can be used to its full extent. Algae cultivation is not cheaper than other forms of clean energy such as solar or wind power, but has the benefit of creating liquid fuel.

Everyone has heard of global warming and a lot of people are already taking steps in their everyday life to try and reduce CO2 emissions, algae takes CO2 from the air and produces oxygen. Edwards would like to see the growth of algae becoming part of the economy, instead of farmers growing all crops, there would be algae farmers. The "Green Algae Strategy" is a worthwhile read to understand and appreciate forms of clean energy that are available if we are all willing to be conscientious and responsible consumers and if we all push for change. The many uses and possible outcomes of encouraging the use of algae are numerous and advantageous to our future and the future of our children.

Every wonder how we are going to become oil independent end world hunger, and halt global climate change. Then this is the book to read. Green Algae Strategy by Mark Edwards shows us how we can do all these and more through the use of algae. It discusses how strengthen our economy without doing any harm to our ecosystems. Create new food sources and develop energy and pollution solutions all from the growth of algae. This is a must read, what are we waiting for? We need to gain GREEN INDEPENDENCE before it's too late.

This is one of the more important books available to mankind today. The concept of using algae as an alternative fuel and food source is not only innovative, but will turn out to save the world. Dr. Edwards clearly has done his research and is the "go to" man on this topic.

One of the great things about the green algae strategy is that the world will never run out of algae because of how it grows. Algae grows all over the world and is a very versatile plant. One of the benefits of using algae as an alternative fuel source is that it burns clean, which is becoming a very vital need for the world. Because of the current global warming problems and its affects around the world, we need a source of fuel that doesn't pollute the environment and algae is the solution.

Another benefit that algae brings to the world is that it is edible. Millions of people around the world go to bed hungry at night and many starve to death in various 3rd world countries. If these countries had access to algae as a food source, their fight for survival would end. They would be able to develop as countries because their day long searches for food would no longer be needed and they would be able to spend their time developing, and becoming civilized.

In this time of a struggling economy, many people are out of jobs and are struggling financially. Starting algae production farms for fuel and food will not only open up thousands of new jobs for people, but will eventually save us money in our gas tank because of how cheap and available algae is.

Green Algae Strategy is a must read for everyone around the world. The use of algae seems very simple, but as far as anyone knows, there is no negative side to the algae strategy. Dr. Edward's research is very clear and thorough and the first step to saving the world is getting the word out about this new source of fuel and food. If you are interested in being one of the first people to read about what will save the world in the future, pick up a copy of this book.

Green Algae Strategy is a great book that discusses how to solve more than one of our world's very important issues. The book reviews a plan to end dependence on foreign oil and fossil fuels, create a sustainable and affordable food to help end world hunger, create the ultimate biofuel, and develop a system to reverse climate change. By reading this book, you'll discover that all these problems can be solved with algae.

Algae burns clean and does not use any of our most precious natural resources. By simply growing algae, the CO2 in the environment will be sequestered and global climate change will be reversed. Different varieties of algae can be eaten and provide varying levels of important nutrients. If algae are so amazing, why aren't we using them to our advantage?

Green Algae Strategy is something you read and wonder why no one else has thought of it. The use of algae for so many reasons seems too simple. No one would ever think so many problems could be solved by using algae. This book provides so much more detail about algae and its many uses than other books specifically written about green energy. It is evident that the author, Mark Edwards, has a passion and wants to share his research and knowledge with the world.

Have you heard about green algae strategy before? I believe that not many people know about the information of green algae. Thus, Green Algae Strategy: End Oil Imports and Engineer Sustainable Food and Fuels is definitely a great book that well illustrates what green algae is, how green algae is being related to the solutions for the deficit of current earth's resources, such as oil, energy, and food. Not only a brief, but this book is going to provide lots of details that are linked to green algae.

Simply, this book can be categorized into three different sections. The first section resembles to the introduction of green algae strategy. For example, what is green algae strategy? The second section tells about the reasons that we need green algae today and the growth, production, and production challenges of algae. Finally, it depicts the future of algae. By the way, this book has emphasized the major four benefits that green algae strategy brings to us today which are:

1) An end to oil imports
2) An end to American and global hunger
3) An end to the need to burn fossil fuels
4) Recapture of the carbon released in burned fossil fuels

Moreover, since oil, energy, food, and the release of CO2 are the crucial problem all over the world, foster green algae strategy can reduce oil imports, allow independence on energy; in other words, it can put an end to the use of fossil fuel and many other forms of carbon neutral fuels. Also, fostering green algae strategy can serve for ending hungry in America and the world and ending smoke death from cooking fires with black smoke. The most important thing that can help reduce the emission of CO2 is green algae strategy will separate the CO2 released from fossil fuels and stop global climate change. Therefore, we need green algae in our society now!

I highly recommend this people to everyone because it is different from other books on a similar topic. This book not only talks the basis of green algae, but it also provides us much information about how green algae can solve the current earth's problem. However, other books are just briefly describing green algae and less linking green algae to the current earth's problem. All in all, Green Algae Strategy: End Oil Imports and Engineer Sustainable Food and Fuels can give you a very good sense of green algae.

The book was pretty informative, but 50 pages could have been save if it weren't for all of the repeated information. I had to put the book down a few times because water pollution and over irrigating from corn was being repeated twice every chapter it felt like. A newer less repeated edition would be a nice read.

Edwards has done a thorough introduction to the promise of algae as a crop for food & feedstocks, or to produce fertilizers, or as a fuel crop for biodiesel or ethanol. Any book on energy which claims that oil, clean coal, and nuclear will not play a role in America's energy future is suspect. But the genius of algae is that it may become a carbon remediation 'after-processing' for large point-sources of carbon pollution like thermal coal plants, municipal waste, etc. Then the CO2 pollution becomes a resource -- it is an essential component of algal photosynthesis.

There is wide diversity of species and cultivars of algaes (including specialized genetic engineered varieties of algae) and of algae-farming plant facilities which range from complex closed systems to simple open ponds. Also, the intensity of algae-farming (BTUs/acre/year) & range of algae's end products make it much more viable than land crops,i.e., soybeans or corn. Corn to ethanol is a very poor alternative and will create havoc with food supply & prices, perhaps even food riots. For these reasons, this biotech will play an important part in the future of energy.
I would have liked more technical treatment of the various types of algae plants and details on the chemistry of the conversion of algal oil into usable by-products.
1) Since the algae cell wall is burst by high pressure carbon dioxide, can CO2 be recycled and pressurized at the plant?
2) When the algae 'blooms' are exceptionally large can 'mass flows of algae' be removed as simple biomass, so the downstream processing is designed for constant flows to optimal cost / scale flow-rates?
3) Can a plant be designed in independent stages so if biodiesel becomes uncompetitive, processing is diverted to bio-mass, fertizer production & feedstock.

Note: My own version of a wise future 'energy portfolio' is to match weaknesses of one tech to strengths of another:
1) algae + dirty coal (the algae cleans the coal)
2) windfarms + pumped storage or hydro (when the wind slows, you open the valve for water flow)
3) electrical / batteries for transport with grid fueled by above
4) natural gas and 'traveling wave' nuclear when siting / distribution requires these

A must read for for every US voter and concerned citizen. Great gift item. Made my Christmas shopping list easy.
If you ever get a chance to hear Dr. Mark Edwards presentations, don't miss them. He is the Steve Jobs for solutions to a better Planet.