Real Name: Tom Webster Member Since: December 09, 2006 Last Signed In: June 29, 2008 Profile Views: 1807 Blog Views: 6001 We Can Solve It Carbon Rally Another Local Maker - My Imaginary Boyfriend World's Largest Green Building 7,000 Miles Per Gallon?!?!?!?!?! Microcars! Why Move To Another Country? Photo Blogger New Users Click Here and Open Thread New Users Click Here - Browsers December 06 January 07 February 07 March 07 April 07 May 07 June 07 July 07 August 07 September 07 October 07 November 07 December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 August 08 September 08 October 08 
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Scum of the Earth
Pete’s comment the other day about churches tapping into the power of God by way of renewable energy got me to thinking about writing up another bit on some of the stuff going on in the realm of renewables. One of the exciting developments that is just getting started is using algae to produce oil. My understanding is that plenty of the oil we use now was originally pond scum anyway, so all we’re doing is shorting the life cycle. 24 comments from 7 users
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posted by
MakesThingsGo
on Feb 7, 2007 at 08:53 AM
I'd told Robb I'd post on 3-way switches this week, but people don't seem to interested in nuts and bolts type columns. Either that, or everyone's houses have been behaving, which I find hard to believe. I'll be in and out today, but I'll get back to everyone if you've got some home repair stuff for me this week.And for Robb: http://www.wfu.edu/~matthew... That's right, baby, an animation of how 4 way switches work. :) posted by
mattloch
on Feb 7, 2007 at 09:27 AM
I've read a number of sci-fi novels that have algae pools as a common source of energy and food (when you grow fish in them that eat the algae). Earth by David Brin was a great view into a "green" future. (BTW: I'm not sure that the CO2 acceleration plan is all that smart for this. I'd much rather have larger pools than burning fossil fuels for faster growth.)
posted by
randomfactor
on Feb 7, 2007 at 09:35 AM
Better still, see his "Heaven's Reach" trilogy for a picture of a society which deliberately makes as little a "footprint" on their world as possible, up to and including designing solar-powered non-digital computers... . Maybe we should start looking for some catalytic process that takes atmospheric CO2 and turns it into lampblack to be packed back into the coalmines... posted by
mattloch
on Feb 7, 2007 at 09:45 AM
I think I've heard of things like that Random. I've come up with a prototype for that concept, but I still need a few million for further R&D. Here's what I've come up with so far: 
posted by
robbwillis
on Feb 7, 2007 at 09:58 AM
Hey Tom, I'm getting a broken link error message on that link. Don't know if it's just me or not. Thanks in advance when I can get there! posted by
TomW
on Feb 7, 2007 at 11:33 AM
Sorry about that, Robb. This one should work: http://www.wfu.edu/~matthew...
posted by
TomW
on Feb 7, 2007 at 11:35 AM
Mattloch, that was my issue with this. I don't think they plan to burn additional fossil fuels, just hook up to the exhaust systems of existing plants.
posted by
mattloch
on Feb 7, 2007 at 02:37 PM
At the very least, existing plants should have to build these as carbon offsets. Not necessarily on the same property, but somewhere nearby, within at least a few hundred miles. Was there a specific type of algae that they mentioned in articles you've read Tom, or was it used generically as something to be chosen at a later point? (In other words, is it the discovery or creation of a specific algae strain that drove the article, or the concept of carbon sinks to be used for fuel creation?) I'd be interested if you had specific articles or books, since environmental topics show up every few years in the debate community, and I'd like to be working on resources for my boy to tap when he hits high school...
posted by
TomW
on Feb 7, 2007 at 06:38 PM
Mattloch, I've read a few articles lately, most recently this: http://www.technologyreview...Of course, the Google is nice too. "algal oil" turns up good hits including companies that do it. http://www.google.com/searc... You debate geeks. I hang out with a couple of guys who coached debate. You're like stamp collectors with facts. posted by
mattloch
on Feb 8, 2007 at 10:20 AM
Sweet, thanks for the links Tom. I've been "retired" from debate for about 7 years, and my buddy has been out for a few years as well, but we still read through books and magazines like we were prepping for a tourney this weekend. I'd rather know too much than too little, and I just love reading about something that I've never hear of before. Obscure quarterlies and studies are much better than mainstream media for information, anyways. As long as you keep your "bs" radar on, you'd be surprised how far ahead of the curve you can get on a developing news story or world event. We've read stuff that has taken months or years to be picked up by the MSM. It can be fun to answer the news anchor's question better than their "expert" when you watch one of their shows, or read an interview.
posted by
TomW
on Feb 8, 2007 at 11:04 AM
Mattloch, another article popped up through my RSS feeds. http://www.worldchanging.co...This one talks about mostly the same stuff but mentions that one algae plant is using the CO2 from a brewery. I think I may have just found my calling in life. posted by
randomfactor
on Feb 9, 2007 at 12:02 PM
Cool new energy-producing technology: http://www.dailykos.com/sto...
posted by
TomW
on Feb 9, 2007 at 01:15 PM
Sweet, RF. I saw some old gastrobot technology that reminds of the refuse collector. I think it was a lawn mower that ran on grass clippings or something. Here's my question: Do we really want to start making machines that run on organic matter? Only a matter of time before a quantum gastrobot decides we'd make a tasty snack.
posted by
mattloch
on Feb 9, 2007 at 02:57 PM
Sweet googly moogly, Random. I read about the Bose-Einstein condensate back in '98 when they did it, and wondered what they could do to top it. Looks like they succeeded. The quantum computer article is pretty damn cool as well. I've been waiting for one of those to come out for a while. Once they get a real working one, things like "transporters" become possible, and perhaps even probable. Too bad the reactor isn't a real "Mr. Fusion", but instead a "Mr. Bioreactor". I read about them making something like that to handle the wastes from a chicken processing plant a few years ago, turning the waste into oil in a manner similar to how we create artificial diamonds compared to how the Earth does it. Play around with the temperature and pressure enough, and you get it in a few hours or days instead of millennia. Using it to destroy Top Secret information is a pretty silly use. The highest-end shredders we have and use already pulp the paper. Unless you have a quantum computer you couldn't reassemble the pulp back into the paper. . . . . . oh yea. Never mind.
posted by
dusty1215
on Feb 9, 2007 at 03:02 PM
What is that line from Mattloch? Sweet googly moogly..it rings a bell in the back of my lil head.
posted by
GrpThink
on Feb 9, 2007 at 03:09 PM
Great Googly Moogly is a phrase which has been used in popular music lyrics (particularly Rhythm & Blues) by various artists dating back to the 1950s [1]. Known examples include Frank Zappa's Nanook Rubs It (1973) and Howlin' Wolf's recording of St. Louis Jimmy Oden's Going Down Slow (1962). There is some evidence (unverified) of earlier uses by other musicians:
posted by
mattloch
on Feb 9, 2007 at 03:25 PM
Correct Grpthink. Also from a Snickers commercial.
posted by
GrpThink
on Feb 9, 2007 at 03:32 PM
I remember it from Zappa. The first true crazy man of rock.
posted by
TomW
on Feb 10, 2007 at 09:08 PM
Mattloch, the process you're thinking of with the chickens is thermal depolymerization. They tossed everything from the farm in there that didn't go to the store and turned it into oil, water and a few other things. I think it can up when we were talking about the sludge that gets dumped here from LA.
posted by
mattloch
on Feb 12, 2007 at 10:05 AM
That's it, Tom. What's the difference between that and the process described in Random's (linked) article? High temp, low pressure, low oxygen process.... BTW, small but sweet article here about Toyota's newest "concept" car that's been making the rounds to the North American auto shows. 0-60 in 4 seconds, hybrid engine, possible replacement to their Supra. Best of all, they claim it'll cost $35k! Sign me up!!!
posted by
TomW
on Feb 12, 2007 at 12:51 PM
Very nice, Mattloch. For me, I'd rather have some cars geared towards milage rather than horsepower, but I guess I'm not typical.I think the difference is that thermal depolymerization uses organics mostly and pressure. The gasifier seems to just melt stuff down. posted by
mattloch
on Feb 12, 2007 at 03:08 PM
I couldn't tell if it was changing temperature for pressure, or if it was a fundamentally different process.... I'm interested in the ultimate efficiency of the car, too. But there's nothing wrong with tossing a few high-capacity capacitors in there to give you a fun little "turbo boost", and recharge them with brakes as well as batteries. The fact that it looks like something out of I Robot or even Blade Runner doesn't hurt at all.....
posted by
TomW
on Feb 12, 2007 at 03:28 PM
That car is sweet looking, Mattloch. You could definately get people to drive it just for the look.I'm not sure if that is right about the heat vs. pressure. I'll poke around some more tomorrow and see what I can come up with. posted by
mattloch
on Feb 12, 2007 at 04:41 PM
I was basically using the analogy of making diamonds; you've got three variables: time, pressure, and temperature. You can increase one and decrease one (possibly two) others, depending. No need for you to spend any time on it, I was just asking if you knew how making oil would be that different (in the variables) than making diamonds. ...As for the car, there are a few very small electric car manufacturers that are making that trade-off, because very few people need an electric car that goes several hundred miles between charges. Most people need a hundred or so, just to be safe. They're trading in distance for speed, in a big way. Some of the smarter manufacturers are looking to computer (laptop) battery technology as the next step. Why spend time and money doing research that's already been done? These second-generation hybrid and (long awaited) second-generation electric cars will start making decisions based on consumer whims, not just engineering ones. I'm just waiting for the third- and fourth-generation cars; they'll start making self-contained chassis, and let the rest of the car be made by "coach-builders", just like they did a hundred years ago. Those cars will be truly unique. Hopefully we'll see a renaissance of custom car building, not unlike what motorcycles have been going through these past 5-10 years.
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