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Cell phone technology was invented by Bell Labs. Xerox made the technology for Internet. The government does some things right, but the majority of their spending plans, especially social programs are failures.
Might I point otu that dispite the failure of government to have a energy policy ;that the oil and gas inducdtry is making possible the promised goal of evry president since Carter top be come energy independent in future years. Even Pickens' year ago advocated a shift the advacing natural gas recovery and its being more part of energy ;which was ignored at the time and Democrats flat scoffed at. Its not just imnportant to security but promise a great advanatge costwsie the competitiveness of manufafcturing i thsi counntry, Right now japan and other aqsian nation pay 14-17 doolar for what we pay 3 dollars for. A great advantage we need to exploit.People need to wakeup and see that politcians with idelogy based agenda haver constantly harmed this country to what we see now.
crude oil made from algae is a good idea, the problem comes in where it is inefficient as you need a lot of acreage to get a little oil. at some point in time it may become efficient, but that time is a long ways off.
Good for them, every little bit helps, but our military uses millions of barrels of jet fuel each month, and these guys claim to make 1,000 gallons per acre, and I' assuming that takes a few weeks to a month to grow, during the time of year when it's warm enough to grow it.
DARPA is not the only entity working on algae as an alternative fuel. Another article addresses your question about the acres along with other issues.
"Last year, 4% of the US transportation fuel supply came from corn based ethanol. It took 23 million acres to achieve that. Warner says that if we had committed the same land area to growing algae instead, it would have produced 50% of our supply. This suggests that less than 50 million acres, an area about the size of the state of Nebraksa, would be sufficient to grow enough algae to power our current transportation fleet. That's a little over 2% of the total land area of the US.
The second great thing about algae, Warner tells us, is the fact that it is a "drop-in fuel," which means that it can directly replace gasoline without any modification to the cars, the pipelines, pumps, refineries, etc. That's a pretty big deal. Our current fossil fuel infrastructure represents a $12 trillion investment.
As for the cost, Warner says that they are projecting that commercial algae-based oil will be available for $80 per barrel, a price that is competitive right now and will only become more so, as oil supplies dwindle.
"When I heard about algae," Warner said in an interview with Fast Company, "I had that state of readiness that enabled me to recognize that it was the solution. It's not going to compromise food production, it's not going to compromise potable water, it doesn't require land that is in high demand for alternative uses, and it's very low carbon, so it's not creating a negative environmental footprint."
Is it sustainable? Warner says it is. Algae requires CO2 to grow productively, thus becoming an effective source of carbon sequestration, capable of pulling 14-15 kg of CO2 per gallon of algae-based fuel produced. While this scenario is not carbon-free, it does represent, on a lifecycle basis, a reduction of as much as 70% in greenhouse gas emissions when compared mile for mile with conventional diesel fuel, or 61% when compared to gasoline."
Quote:
Originally Posted by OICU812
One question I have always had, is what would happen if these genetically created algae got out into the lakes, rivers and oceans? Would we end up with a toxic contamination of algae sludge?
Hate to break it to ya buddy, but toxic contamination of the environment has been going on long before algae fuel hit the scene, though as the above article states, people are actively working to minimize negative environmental effects.
"Eleven workers were killed in the April 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig and about 200 million gallons of oil flowed into the Gulf from the blown-out Macondo well."
Quote:
Originally Posted by totsuka
Cell phone technology was invented by Bell Labs.
Well as far as I know, it was the U.S. Army Signal Corps Engineering Laboratories that developed the 1st mass produced portable communication devices. The military later partnered with Motorola and this was years before Bell mass produced portable communication devices for civilian use.
"Xerox maintains a decade-by-decade list of its technological accomplishments on its website. And while it’s eager to take credit for Ethernet, the graphical user interface, and the PC, Xerox doesn’t take credit for the internet.
Why not? “Robert Metcalfe, researcher at PARC, invented Ethernet as a way to connect Xerox printers and the Alto computer,” Xerox spokesman Bill McKee said on Monday. “But inventing Ethernet is not the same as inventing the internet.”
Quote:
Originally Posted by totsuka
The government does some things right, but the majority of their spending plans, especially social programs are failures.
I have been critical of social programs and their outcomes in the past but this thread is about science and technology. Social programs open a whole different can of worms so if you want to open another thread to discuss, we can discuss in that thread.
Quote:
Originally Posted by texdav
Might I point otu that dispite the failure of government to have a energy policy ;
Frankly I think we do have an energy policy, unfortunately it involves ballistic missiles as much drills.
Quote:
Originally Posted by texdav
that the oil and gas inducdtry is making possible the promised goal of evry president since Carter top be come energy independent in future years.
Now I remember you, don't know if you remember me though, but I can't tell whether its because English might not be your native lingua, but your typing makes it hard to decipher what it is your saying.
Quote:
Originally Posted by texdav
Even Pickens' year ago advocated a shift the advacing natural gas recovery and its being more part of energy ;which was ignored at the time and Democrats flat scoffed at.
"Billionaire T. Boone Pickens is building a 377-megawatt wind farm in Texas, three years after shelving plans for a project about ten times as big that would’ve been the world’s largest. "
Quote:
Originally Posted by texdav
Its not just imnportant to security but promise a great advanatge costwsie the competitiveness of manufafcturing i thsi counntry, Right now japan and other aqsian nation pay 14-17 doolar for what we pay 3 dollars for. A great advantage we need to exploit.People need to wakeup and see that politcians with idelogy based agenda haver constantly harmed this country to what we see now.
I'm not anti-natural gas by the way and I do agree Americans should not let dogmatic ideologues control the debate.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rbohm
crude oil made from algae is a good idea, the problem comes in where it is inefficient as you need a lot of acreage to get a little oil. at some point in time it may become efficient, but that time is a long ways off.
Indeed, this technology has some growing pains to get through.
Robert Taylor, who ran the ARPA program in the 1960s, sent an email to fellow technologists in 2004 setting the record straight: "The creation of the Arpanet was not motivated by considerations of war. The Arpanet was not an Internet. An Internet is a connection between two or more computer networks.
But full credit goes to the company where Mr. Taylor worked after leaving ARPA: Xerox. It was at the Xerox PARC labs in Silicon Valley in the 1970s that the Ethernet was developed to link different computer networks. Researchers there also developed the first personal computer (the Xerox Alto) and the graphical user interface that still drives computer usage today.
Robert Taylor, who ran the ARPA program in the 1960s, sent an email to fellow technologists in 2004 setting the record straight: "The creation of the Arpanet was not motivated by considerations of war. The Arpanet was not an Internet. An Internet is a connection between two or more computer networks.
But full credit goes to the company where Mr. Taylor worked after leaving ARPA: Xerox. It was at the Xerox PARC labs in Silicon Valley in the 1970s that the Ethernet was developed to link different computer networks. Researchers there also developed the first personal computer (the Xerox Alto) and the graphical user interface that still drives computer usage today.
WSJ: 22 July 2012
Some credit goes to AT&T and Bell Labs for Unix and most protocols that still drive the internet. Its incredible how many inventions between Xerox and Bell Labs.
Indeed, this technology has some growing pains to get through.
the problem is that in order to replace crude oil with algae technology, we would need to cover about half the US with algae farms. not very efficient at all. the only thing we can truly expect from this technology is a small amount of fuel and oil to supplement what we already use.
the problem is that in order to replace crude oil with algae technology, we would need to cover about half the US with algae farms. not very efficient at all. the only thing we can truly expect from this technology is a small amount of fuel and oil to supplement what we already use.
"The U.S. military, the nation’s single largest oil consumer, wants to wean itself from petroleum, and is deploying its immense buying power and authority to commercialize nascent technologies deemed to be in the national interest.
Algae is one of the great green hopes for creating a biofuels industry that can reach the scale necessary to bring down costs and compete against fossil fuels. Whether grown in bioreactors or in desert ponds, algal oil mostly sidesteps the food and land conflicts that potentially can limit other biofuels.
The commercial aviation industry is eager to become a major buyer of biofuels as a hedge against oil price spikes that can wipe out years of profit. But cash-strapped airlines are counting on the military to get production rolling.
We also look at the long-range vision of where are we going to be. We can’t keep going on a path like this. We have got to have that path be a very different trajectory for 2020 or 2030.
“But every energy transition has been led by our government and primarily it’s been military-driven, and the same is true this time.”
I decided someone in government didn't know what they were doing when I received my medicare card in 2002. It won't fit a wallet that accepts STANDARD SIZE CREDIT CARDS. What were they thinking?
Voters should take note of the representatives running for re-election this Nov. if they not only oppose R&D in alternative energy sources but are also the ones screaming & shouting for more American blood & tax money to be sacrificed in a never ending crusade.
"When the Navy put a Pacific fleet through maneuvers on a $12 million cocktail of biofuels this summer, it proved that warships could actually operate on diesel from algae or chicken fat.
This phase of the military’s exploration of alternative fuels began under President George W. Bush and grew out of a task force that Donald Rumsfeld, then the secretary of defense, convened in 2006 to explore ways to reduce dependence on petroleum. If the military had less need to transport and protect fuel coming from the Middle East, the thinking went, the fighting forces could become more flexible and efficient, with fewer lives put at risk.
The Defense Department focused on advanced biofuels, which are generally made from plant and animal feedstocks that don’t compete with food uses, which is a concern with common renewable fuels like the corn-based ethanol used in cars.
Many of the lawmakers objecting to the biofuels program — including some Democrats who crossed the aisle to support new limits — represent coal country or take money from those in the coal and natural gas industries.
What happens to the military biofuels program could hinge on the fall elections."
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