Jones Beene wrote. > > > Jed Rothwell wrote: > > > As I said in a previous message, my remarks only apply to plantlife > > grown outdoors in North America. I said: "Growing algae in tanks is > > another matter." > > > > That is an artificial distinction. You definitely do NOT need, nor even > want "tanks". > > In fact there are already plans and suggestions from NREL that almost > every power plant in the USA which now burns coal or natural gas could > and should be piping CO2 into an adjoining algae pond. > Don't leave out waste heat from nuclear power plants heating algae ponds, Jones. Plenty of "sequestered" CO2 to pipe to them, and it would help reduce cooling tower water usage, too.
Fred > > The cost of earthmoving to create large ponds is well known and de > minimis. Most power plants are located far removed from urban areas with > plenty of buffer land which is perfect for such ponds. Hot water is a > plus for algae, allowing full year-round growing. If every power plant > could convert even half of its normal CO2 emissions into algoil, then > this is a huge step forward towards eliminating Arab oil, and might > actually benefit the consummer in several ways. > > 1) less direct CO2 emission - near neutral net emission > 2) self-sufficient production of transportation fuel in the USA > 3) lower net cost of electricity, when the algoil is sold a profit. > > It is no coincidence that the huge recent sale of power-plants in Texas, > alluded to by Richard, will coincide with this shift towards algoil > production by power companies (formerly oil drillers). > > Jones
