Scientists found a way to gather electricity from algae

prizrak

prizrak

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While not strictly car related, it is pretty interesting. I wonder what the output is, perhaps we could just have some in the car to power it :)
engadget said:
While we've seen plenty of stabs at viable green energy, from underwater turbines to the Bloom Box, we're always up for another. Running along the same lines as Uppsala University's algae-based batteries, researchers at Stanford are generating electrical current by tapping into the electron activity of individual algae cells. The team designed a gold electrode that can be pushed through a cell membrane, which then seals around it. The cell, still alive, does what it does best (photosynthesis), at which point scientists harvest chemical energy in the form of electrons. According to Stanford University News, this results in "electricity production that doesn't release carbon into the atmosphere. The only byproducts of photosynthesis are protons and oxygen." Of course, the team has a long way to go before this is economically feasible, but who knows? Maybe there's an algae-powered OPhone in your future...
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Source
 
prizrak said:
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While it is interesting ... it does sound like quite a delicate procedure ... and the output will be minimal, while the cell-life is limited and rather care-intensive ... and it is dependend on light ...

A lot is thinkable, and this research certainly deserves further looking into it ... but I don?t really see the application or revolution here. If they find out a way to "plug in" a whole plant, rather than single cells ... geronimo! ... but untill then ...
 
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I suspect it's much more efficient to turn the algae into biodiesel and then use biodiesel to run diesel generators.
 
Hm, generating electricity from pond scum....

Hey, we could use politicians to generate electricity now!
 
Bio- diesel was the original fuel for ICE, so show it some respect.
 
prizrak said:
You and your biodiesel :)
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:)

In all seriousness, biodiesel IS awesome, even if it ultimately is just a stop-gap for some long-term solution to our energy needs. Biodiesel is basically ready to go right now...if we pumped a little money into getting algae farms and refineries up and running, it could be in every county in the nation in five years. Maybe we'll have something even more awesome in thirty years, but for the next few decades, I really believe there's no better solution out there (at least for non-metropolitan people who can't rely on public transportation and EVs).
 
I'm waiting for Mr. Fusion personally :)
Bio- diesel was the original fuel for ICE, so show it some respect.
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? IIRC petrol engines were around way longer than diesel.
 
In America we'd have to find a way to get it compatible with gasoline cars as diesel passenger cars are not common over here (though not entirely nonexistent).
 
Everybody knows the real future is in methane harvested from the rotting bodies of dead treehuggers :p
 
thevictor390 said:
In America we'd have to find a way to get it compatible with gasoline cars as diesel passenger cars are not common over here (though not entirely nonexistent).
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You'd need to sell diesel engines in mass-market cars besides just the Jetta/Golf and the 3-Series. A change, yes, but an insignificant one compared to the nightmare of building an entire new set of infrastructure for EVs or hydrogen-powered cars. How hard would it be to pop some particulate-filter-equipped engine into the already-existing Corolla or Accord or F-150 or Tahoe? Problem solved.
 
Not quite, because the vast majority of cars on the road are not brand new.
 
thevictor390 said:
Not quite, because the vast majority of cars on the road are not brand new.
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I was talking about setting up infrastructure to manufacture and sell biodiesel within five years, NOT abolishing gasoline cars or gas pumps within five years. With that infrastructure in place and some education of the populace about clean diesel and biodiesel, and at the end of those five years, diesel cars could make up a big portion of new car sales within five years. In another five years, they'd make up a big portion of used car sales too. Gasoline cars wouldn't up and disappear entirely, but they'd no longer make up 99% of cars on the road, and people who wanted biodiesel could buy new or used cars and fill up their tanks hassle-free.
 
That makes sense then. Gasoline cars are too prevalent to go away any time soon but most stations around here already carry diesel. It would just be a long, slow process.
 
thevictor390 said:
That makes sense then. Gasoline cars are too prevalent to go away any time soon but most stations around here already carry diesel. It would just be a long, slow process.
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Exactly. How easy would it be to just convert one of the pumps at your average neighborhood Texaco to biodiesel for the people (a minority, but hopefully an ever-increasing minority) that are going to be driving around in Jetta TDIs and the like?

Also, in Oregon at least, many towns already have "SeQuential" stations with a very run-of-the-mill gas station experience, except you're drawing biodiesel (or E85 or E10) from the pumps instead of gasoline or petroleum-based diesel. None of this "make your own from fast food grease" mess, just drive to the local station and tank up. When I lived in Eugene, this was just a few blocks from me:

station_b.jpg


http://www.sqbiofuels.com/

It wouldn't be that hard to make nationwide what already exists on the I-5 corridor in Oregon.
 
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I still think it makes sense to synthesize a fuel that works in 90% of the engines already out there, but I'm sure it has been tried to death and can't really be done efficiently.
 
thevictor390 said:
I still think it makes sense to synthesize a fuel that works in 90% of the engines already out there, but I'm sure it has been tried to death and can't really be done efficiently.
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It already exists. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biogasoline I think it's much easier to make large amounts of biodiesel than it is to make large amounts of biogasoline, but I could be wrong.

EDIT: Shell just opened a biogasoline refinery making biogasoline from sweetbeets, though it's still far away from producing mass-market amounts. source I don't know how much net energy is produced when you factor in the energy used in harvesting beets. This is one area where biodiesel, particularly algae biodiesel but even soybean biodiesel, excels: there's a significant net energy gain in its production.
 
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I would agree that converting the current infrastructure to biodiesel would be fairly simple.

However I disagree that it would be THAT much harder to create an infrastructure for hydrogen. Considering that gas stations already have an industrial electric feed and water feeds they can make it right on the spot. They would have to modify their tanks sure but it wouldn't be as difficult as setting up charging stations.

Also there is something to be said for future proofing. Say biodiesel/gasoline becomes the stop gap measure until either a better battery or fuel cell comes along, then you will STILL have to convert all of the infrastructure AND you have just spent the time/money to getting infrastructure to handle biofuels.
 
Bio fuels as they exist today are a waste. All the cost savings are undone by transport (unless you live near the farm).
 
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