Steven
Jones makes an interesting point about the vulnerability of solar cell technology under certain seasonal conditions. However, what's not clear to me is what would algoil be doing under equivalent conditions at 9 am in December, when temperatures are hovering around 15 - 25 degrees F, or less.
The prime location for any algae pond and CO2 sytem is adjacent to a regular power plant, where the hot water from cooling the steam generators (waste heat) heats the pond.
These power plants are usually sited in a remote location, and have large buffer zones which can accomodate a pond of several hundred acres.
An do not forget that there are algae strains which need little or no solar input at all - if they have heat and CO2 (these are found naturally around deep ocean thermal vents). 200 acres of algae, doubling in mass every few hours is lots of biota to work with - and you are also removing CO2 so it is win-win.
Jones claims they could possibly end up producing 50 times more energy returned per dollar of investment compared to solar cell technology. I'd like to believe that, but I remain a tad skeptical.
Then compute how much 200 acres of solar cells will cost... Jones
