Algae Fuels
The Times reports on a new plant that uses algae, CO2 , and sea water to create ethanol for vehicular fuel and for the production of plastics. It’s a joint venture between Dow Chemical and Algenol Biofuels. Super efficient, and adaptable to “clean” coal fired power plants. Very interesting.
Local River
via mocoloco.com
Local River is the “home storage unit for fish and greens” as conceived by Mathieu Lehanneur with Anthony van den Bossche. Inspired by the Locavores, a group of culinary adventurers who eat foods produced in a radius of 100 miles around their city, Local River anticipates the growing influence of this group (the word ‘locavore’ made its first appearance in an American dictionary in 2007) by proposing a home storage unit for live freshwater fish combined with a mini vegetable patch. This DIY (GYO?) fish-farm-cum-kitchen-garden is based on the principle of aquaponics coupled with the exchange and interdependence of two living organisms – plants and fish. The plants extract nutrients from the nitrate-rich dejecta of the fish. In doing so they act as a natural filter that purifies the water and maintains a vital balance for the eco-system in which the fish live. The same technique is used on large-scale pioneer aquaponics/fish-farms, which raise tilapia (a food fish from the Far East) and lettuce planted in trays floating on the surface of ponds. From April 25th to June 21st 2008 at Artists Space.
Green energy
The Times has a special section this week on the business of sustainability. Above, columns of algae being grown for biofuel by Solena in Alicante, Spain. The section includes articles on green collar jobs, business going carbon neutral or carbon negative, Sun Edison the solar panel provider, etc.
Algae Fuel Cells
Image by John MacNeill, commissioned by Solix Biofuels
If you think algae is just that green grime that dirties up your pool, think again: it’s also a surprisingly viable source for biofuel. The LiveFuels Alliance, funded by LiveFuels Inc based in Menlo Park, CA, is tapping into the oil producing potential of algae with an ambitious initiative to replace millions of gallons of fossil fuels with algae-based biocrude by 2010.
via Inhabitat.com