Organic Gardening will upgrade its login and registration system on
December 11. The new system is needed to support some of the major site
enhancements that we are currently developing. The new system is shared with
other Rodale sites, including Prevention, Men's Health, Runner's World and Women's Health.
Click here for answers to the most frequently
asked questions related to the new system.
Jet Fuel from Algae Every month, 1.6 billion gallons of jet fuel are burned in America. Greenhouse gases, and "friendlier skies" are issues that the airline industry and the military will have to cope with shortly. San Francisco’s Solaryme, Inc., has produced the world’s first aviation fuel derived from algae. Southwest Research Institute of San Antonio, Texas, one of the nation’s leading fuel analysis laboratories, announced that the algae fuel passed the 11 "most challenging specifications needed to meet the . . . standard for Aviation Turbine Fuel." Solazyme also produces a renewable diesel with the same chemicall properties as petro-diesel, and a biodiesel. The process converts algae to oil in large tanks quickly, efficiently, without sunlight. A variety of non-food feedstocks can be used, such as switchgrass, bagasse, various cellulosic materials and industrial byproducts ---- all nontoxic. pg. 10 Acres USA Nov. 2008
One of the interesting things about algae derived fuels, and that may impact costs depending on regulations in the future, is they can be used to reduce carbon emmissions from fossil fuel / wood fired power plants.
Basically pipe the exhaust and cooling water through algae grow houses -- provides both extra heat and a CO2 rich atmosphere to put the algae into biological overdrive.
While you'll still release the CO2 in the end, you've managed to essentially get twice as many units of energy for the same amount of emmissions.
Oh, and realize this algae is mostly or entirely genetically engineered in order to produce useful quantities of vegetable oil; the holy grail is if they could produce vegetable oil that's already "cracked" if you will to have properties like diesel / jet fuel just from being pressed. The major difference between vegetable oil and diesel today is the gelling temperature -- vegetable oil solidifies sooner and at temperatures very common in winter for trucks, and an every day occurence for aircraft. Truck fuels switches from summer to winter blends to cope; jet fuel is just a smidge more refined so it doesn't gel. (No. 2 Home Heating Oil, Diesel, Kerosene, and the most common Jet "A" Fuel are so similiar they can be used interchangeably although you may see more smoke and engine wear from a mismatch, or in the case of an Jet engine work just fine on the ground, but run a major malfunction when a lower grade fuel gells up when they're at high altitudes!)
