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wolram
Joined: 22 Jul 2007
Posts: 7
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 Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 9:52 am Post subject: Oil from algae |
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To me algae seems to be a profitable line of research for an alternative
to fossil fuels.
http://www.oilgae.com/
Any thoughts ?
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Andre
Joined: 21 Jul 2007
Posts: 298
Location: Germany - The Nederlands
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| Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 11:37 am Post subject: |
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Well, it might but,
The objective of biofuels is to recycle carbon instead of adding more carbon to the biosphere and have a sustainable source of energy.
The first question is the feasibility, what are the efforts and what is the nett result. After all the method converts direct solar energy into useable energy.
If we start with say 600 W/m2 solar energy at the equator, how much of that is actually going to propel that train. How much energy is lost in the process? I guess something like 99,9%.
How many trains can we propel if we transfer the equator into a biofuel plant? The result may be dissapointing but there will be no more rain forests of which I'm a passionate fan.
So you'd say you don't need to cut the rain forests for biofuels, right?
But others do so, simply because of the market mechanism. If biofuel is popular, everybody want to take their pick. So unless you can prevent this and I don't see how, biofuel may not be the best of ideas in the transition to a sustainable economy.
And the climate? That's no incentive whatsoever. A bit more carbon in the air is highly benificial for most plants and increases the potential biomass on earth.
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Andre
Joined: 21 Jul 2007
Posts: 298
Location: Germany - The Nederlands
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scpg02
Joined: 22 Jul 2007
Posts: 221
Location: Sacramento
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| Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 5:21 pm Post subject: |
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Decoding mushroom’s secrets could combat carbon, find better biofuels & safer soils
| Quote: | Researchers at the University of Warwick are co-ordinating a global effort to sequence the genome of one of the World’s most important mushrooms - Agaricus bisporus. The secrets of its genetic make up could assist the creation of biofuels, support the effort to manage global carbon, and help remove heavy metals from contaminated soils.
The Agaricus mushroom family are highly efficient ‘secondary decomposers’ of plant material such as leaves and litter –breaking down the material that is too tough for other fungi and bacteria to handle. How exactly it does this, particularly how it degrades tough plant material known as lignin, is not fully understood. By sequencing the full genome of the mushroom, researchers hope to uncover exactly which genes are key to this process. That information will be extremely useful to scientists and engineers looking to maximize the decomposition and transformation of plant material into bio fuels.
The mushroom also forms an important model for carbon cycling studies. Carbon is sequestered in soils as plant organic matter. Between 1–2 giga tons of carbon a year are sequestered in pools on land in the temperate and boreal regions of the earth, which represents 15–30% of annual global emissions of carbon from fossil fuels and industrial activities. Understanding the carbon cycling role of these fungi in the forests and other ecosystems is a vital component of optimizing carbon management. |
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsand...eases/decoding_mushrooms_secrets/
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