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green algaeThe Keystone XL pipeline has some big competition, and it is coming from a number of very small challengers. Scientists at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, CA are working under a $1.3 million grant from the Department of Energy to produce biofuels from algae and human waste. Instead of relying on dirty tar sands and massive amounts of energy to extract and transport the viscous petroleum, algae needs only the contents of a toilet bowl and some sunlight. The algae not only helps to clean municipal waste water efficiently and inexpensively, but takes advantage of a basically free source of food for the microorganisms to grow. Governments are able to meet the rising costs of removing impurities from water, provide green jobs, and avoid scarcity issues related to using water to grow biofuel crops or fracturing shale. Algae can even be sold as feedstock to biofuel refineries for an extra source of income.1
Microscopic AlgaeThe Keystone XL pipeline has some big competition, and it is coming from a number of very small challengers. Scientists at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, CA are working under a $1.3 million grant from the Department of Energy to produce biofuels from algae and human waste. Instead of relying on dirty tar sands and massive amounts of energy to extract and transport the viscous petroleum, algae needs only the contents of a toilet bowl and some sunlight. The algae not only helps to clean municipal waste water efficiently and inexpensively, but takes advantage of a basically free source of food for the microorganisms to grow. Governments are able to meet the rising costs of removing impurities from water, provide green jobs, and avoid scarcity issues related to using water to grow biofuel crops or fracturing shale. Algae can even be sold as feedstock to biofuel refineries for an extra source of income.2
AlgaeThe Keystone XL pipeline has some big competition, and it is coming from a number of very small challengers. Scientists at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, CA are working under a $1.3 million grant from the Department of Energy to produce biofuels from algae and human waste. Instead of relying on dirty tar sands and massive amounts of energy to extract and transport the viscous petroleum, algae needs only the contents of a toilet bowl and some sunlight. The algae not only helps to clean municipal waste water efficiently and inexpensively, but takes advantage of a basically free source of food for the microorganisms to grow. Governments are able to meet the rising costs of removing impurities from water, provide green jobs, and avoid scarcity issues related to using water to grow biofuel crops or fracturing shale. Algae can even be sold as feedstock to biofuel refineries for an extra source of income.3
