“Gasoline” from the scum of the Earth

No, not from the guy who cut you off this morning on the way to work.

A California-based company called Sapphire Energy says it believes it can deliver up to one billion (yes, billion with a B) gallons of bio-fuel a year by the year 2025.

Algae fuel is not that new of a technology, but large scale production of algae-biofuel is still just getting off the ground.

Algae bio-fuel is more cost effective, say industry experts, than traditional corn-based ethanol.Just think, a large system of ponds and a method of harvesting the algae are the major components of this.  Heck, the water, the sun and algae do most of the work.

Estimates of 10 to 100 times more energy per acre than corn are being mentioned. Plus, corn-ethanol is sort of falling our of favor due to it being produced from food crops.  Algae-fuel also requires less water to produce than corn.

Already, two major airlines have made test flights using Sapphire’s algae fuel. Continental Airlines and Japan Airlines have both done live-flight tests with the fuel, ss a 50/50 blend.

So,  looking at that scum growing in that pond neat our home, do we call it Green Gold instead of Black Gold?