Tomas Martin @ 15-04-2008
With oil prices again reaching historic highs today of more than $113 a barrel, there are unofficial reports that a massive oil reserve may have been found in the ocean off the coast of Brazil. The drilling company involved, Petrobras, has yet to announce confirmation but National Petroleum Agency President Haroldo Lima said the reserve could have as much as 33 billion barrels of oil, making it the largest find in decades.
Petrobras played down the reports, with the second well drilling into the deposit yet to break through the salt layer under which the oil could be expected. However with biofuel production threatening food shortages in Latin America and the rest of the world, a big oil find in Brazil would come at a much needed time for fuel security.
The world’s second largest producer of oil, Russia, had falling production in the first quarter of 2008, with industry officials ‘gloomy’ about the prospects of even staying at current production levels. Global production has plateaued in recent years, with growth in production in Angola and Russia balancing falling production elsewhere. More finds like the one in Brazil, as well as increased efficiency in using the oil produced will be needed if global production begins to decline.
[via the Oil Drum, picture by gattobrz]
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Tomas Martin @ 31-03-2008
Although PetroSun have picked the worst possible day for beginning production, their algae to biofuel processor plant is ready to begin working tomorrow, April 1st. 1080 acres of the site in Rio Hondo Texas will be devoted the process, with an additional 20 acres making experimental jet fuel . I’d question their choice of launching on April Fool’s Day but if this is a real development it’s potentially very exciting.
“Our business model has been focused on proving the commercial feasibility of the firms’ algae-to-biofuels technology during the past eighteen months.” said PetroSun CEO Gordon LeBlanc, Jr “Whether we have arrived at this point in time by a superior technological approach, sheer luck or a redneck can-do attitude, the fact remains that microalgae can outperform the current feedstocks utilized for conversion to biodiesel and ethanol, yet do not impact the consumable food markets or fresh water resources.”
Algae conversion to biofuel is much more efficient than other techniques. It provides as much as 30 times more energy per acre than corn or soy . In addition, it doesn’t impact on the growing of human fuel - food stocks in grains are low and shortages threatening because of farmland switching from food to biofuel production. Algae promises a good compromise to stop a Downward Spiral.
[story and picture via TreeHugger ]
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Jeremy Eades @ 26-10-2007
Time was, genetic engineers were putting jellyfish genes in everything to see what crazy animals they could get to glow in the dark. Now, however, they’re doing quite a bit more. The journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has a few articles on various uses for genetically modified plants. Two papers discuss using trees to remove harmful chemicals from the atmosphere, the third identifies a way to modify the Chlamy (a green alga) to produce hydrogen. It seems that algae may be the future of biofuels, after a report on using algae to produce a type of biodiesel.
(image via IRRI Images)
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Jeremy Eades @ 04-10-2007
In addition to worries about driving up food prices around the world, especially in developing nations, there comes a study from Nobel Prize-winning scientist Paul Crutzen that biofuel may be even worse for us than fossil fuels. The team calculates that biofuels can release 50-70% more carbon dioxide than fossil fuels, as well as release roughly twice as much nitrous oxide (N2O) as previously thought.
I think the problem here is that everyone is looking for a way to maintain their current standard of living and not admit that this level of energy usage will have to decrease. The funny thing is, it’s not all that difficult to reduce the usage, if only just a little. I think it’s actually more difficult to get your car converted to biodiesel than biking/walking to nearby places and not leaving lights on. But that’s just me.
(via SciTechDaily) (image from neilsphotoalbum)
Update: Apologies, I misread the news report. I should’ve found the original paper first. It turns out that Dr. Crutzen found that N2O was marketdly increased, and if the environmental effects of N2O were converted into how much cooling CO2 would do, it comes out to be the afore-stated 50-70% increase. Which is a lot. Dr. Crutzen also stated he did not take into account the fossil fuel required to power the agricultural process (plowing, harvesting, etc), not did it take into account any beneficial co-products. He only focused on N2O production. It seems there is also some controversy about the efficacy of the calculations used. Please see the paper here(pdf).
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Tobias Buckell @ 26-09-2007
Earth 2 Tech has a list of ways the military is using eco-technology. It includes solar power tents, aviation bio-fuel, micro fuel cells, hybrid drive technologies, and personal solar cells for recharging in the field.
There is a great deal of money in the military, and often research and innovation comes out of the military side that trickles down to civilians (night vision, Hummers, etc). It would be intriguing if green technologies are invented in the military industry have an effect on daily life. So far, however, most of these innovations look like they’re being taken from civilian industries and being tested in military arenas.
Now all we need is a eco-DARPA and we might see some very interesting results!
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