Post by Sparky on Jun 18, 2008 16:36:33 GMT -8
seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/361634_biodiesel03.html
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While biofuels do compete for food and cropland, experts said they're not the primary problem when it comes to soaring food prices and global food shortages. A spate of weather-related disasters -- droughts in Australia and Russia, frost in the Midwest, torrential summer rains in Europe -- made a mess of crops over the past year. Rising incomes in China and India mean many more people are eating higher on the food chain, sending more crops to feedlots to grow beef and pork. High prices for fuel and fertilizer also contribute to the food woes.
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Kelly Ogilvie has a grand vision for Seattle's sewage. With the help of nutrient-loving algae, the entrepreneur wants human waste to power buses, cars and trucks.
"You're converting human waste into an input for energy," said Ogilvie, chief executive of Seattle's Blue Marble Energy.
At least that's the idea. Ogilvie is trying to forge a partnership with King County to grow his aquatic plants in treated sewage that's rich in nitrogen and phosphorus -- nutrients that if flushed into Puget Sound can fuel algal blooms that hurt the environment.
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"There are investments being made in algae by important companies, but all the technologies are so far away -- four to five years -- it's hard to know if any are going to be economically viable," said Jimmie Powell, national energy expert for The Nature Conservancy.
In addition to consuming significant amounts of greenhouse gases while it grows, algae doesn't use up precious farmland. People are developing technologies to grow it in plastic bags and tubes or shallow manmade ponds.