Daniel Kammen: From our analysis, probably the most interesting feature about algae is that it’s a wildcard. Algae might be a big player, but right now, it’ll take some breakthroughs for us to see that.
Daniel Kammen is energy and policy advisor to the Obama administration in the U.S., and director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California-Berkeley. Dr. Kammen spoke to EarthSky about the potential of algae – tiny ocean plants – to meet future energy needs.
Daniel Kammen: A variety of algae, the common pond scum to various plants, produce different oils in their cell walls. There can be large amounts of it. What we’re talking about is harvesting those materials that look very similar to the types of biodiesels we produce right now.
Kammen said oils from fast-growing algae could either be converted into liquid fuel that could run your car, or into more efficient hydrogen fuel. The idea is promising, he said, but the key to success is scaling up the technology – that is, making massive amounts of it.
Daniel Kammen: We can do it in the laboratory, in a Petri dish, no problem right now. But the question is, can we do it at scale? And no one really knows.
Kammen added that algae is significantly behind other renewable energy sources, like solar and wind, in terms of development.
Daniel Kammen: Even if algae performs at its theoretical maximum, it may not be a big enough deal soon enough.
Kammen said that despite growing investments in renewable energy and talk of a ‘clean energy future,’ the world is still far from a low-carbon energy system.
Dan Kammen: Most of the forecasts right now, either business as usual or a little bit of an increased rate of innovation – deployment of solar, wind, cleaner biofuels, or transitions to electric vehicles – are ones that wouldn’t get us to where we need to go, which is an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions over the next 40 years.
Kammen is not optimistic that 80% reduction goal can be met. He said the US government is shooting much lower, and currently, no single renewable energy source is poised to take over the role of fossil fuels.
Daniel Kammen: We’re not actually looking for a silver bullet. We’re looking for a silver buckshot.
Many scientists and companies are exploring the possibilities of algae, because algae yields high volumes of fatty oils that can be used as biofuel, and it can be produced year-round. But Kammen said that as far as algae entering the energy market – using what he calls a ‘pathway’ – it is still far behind other renewables.
Dan Kammen: A pathway is not just producing a given species of algae, but the whole pathway to do the research, to do a pilot scale plant, to scale it up and see a company really take of and be profitable. So when one looks around, there are no such algae companies yet. It’s very hard to forecast how a given product will evolve until you start seeing it in the market.
Kammen said scientists have yet to answer big questions about algae, such as what strains will be used, whether the algae will be genetically modified, and how to reduce the amounts of land and water required to get high yields.
Daniel Kammen: We’ve looked at algae in a number of settings in terms of both growing it as a primary product, and also making biofuels from algaes. There’s certainly a role. There’s a role right now for any low-carbon fuel out there. In terms of the big scale-up, really cutting into US petroleum use, it’s hard to see right now, algae becoming a large player.
This nothing more than solar energy. The Algie absorbs and converts solar energy to another form, nothing more.
So fundamentally a non starter. Reseach $ is better spent elsewhere to tap into solar directly rather than via plants, which is far less efficient and will impact food crops and supply chain, finally leaving millions without food.
In my mind a total nonsensence.
We have only three basic sources of energy, Solar, Earths Mantle and nuclear. Fossil fuels also belong to same categories and consists of stored energy but based on events many, many of years ago.
More people do the study may suceess. However, I think it’a wonderful dream, but hard to come true, due to its complexity. It’s the one of the numerous studies, however, other will be better. He didn’t say what the ecosystem would be if his so-called biofule would be used. We can’t just tell the advantages rather than disadvantage, both affected each other.
Wasn’t there a plant, factory of significance that could produce synthetic gasoline in the 1940′s down in, I think it was Misouri? That was quashed by the then administration and the military. Maybe there is still some of those plans around somewhere.By the way Carbon Dioxide is one of the heaviest molecules of our air that we breathe. It can only be at ground level, and not in the upper realms of our atmosphere. It is colourless and odourless except in very high concentrations, and is approximately decimasl 3 of one percent of our air.
Energy form algae is a hoax.
The oil and gas we are currently using comes from algae grown over millions of years in large shallow seas millions of years ago.
To grow enough algae to do any good would require using the entire Gulf of Mexico or the Great Lakes to grow algae. This does not make sense. Except to grap tax payer money in the form of government grants to study algae.
Ken – I think the emphasis of the article is the possibilities that lay ahead in algae research. Maybe we don’t currently have the capabilities but that’s what innovation and research is for.
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I just wanted to thank you for the informative article and drawing our attention to such an interesting subject.
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Wow, i really do hope this leads to a breakthrough!
A “Wildcard?” Really? Lindsay, are you just trying to spread dis-information?
I hope, in researching information about “bio-diesel” for your article, you came across the documentary “Fuel” that won the Sundance Film Festival’s best documentary award. If not, here’s a link http://www.thefuelfilm.com.
This technology resulted from initiatives under the Jimmy Carter administration in response to the oil embargo in the 1970′s. President Barack Obama, is obviously surrounding himself with oil industry pundits like this “Doctor Daniel Kammen” who are either financially or politically motivated to keep this technology from becoming widely adopted.
In keeping with the tradition of unbiased reporting, please contact Josh Tickell, the director of the aforementioned film, and get his response to “Doctor Daniel Kammen’s” claims. An opposing view would be GREATLY appreciated.
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