Will algae oil save the Earth?

In our green real estate section we usually try to focus on environmentally friendly advice for our homes. But this text will be focused on an interesting research, which may lead to helping us if we are feeling guilty because of our cars eat up too much gas. Oil is an crucial part of our everyday lives. Nowadays, the crucial part of a life in the developed world is a car, and nearly everybody has one. So do I, of course, as a realtor who drives around daily. Without our dear cars, the life would be so much harder. Of course, the two crucial issues of driving are well-known: prices driven up and down because of unsure oil supplies, and the environmental harm made by fuel burning and emissions of carbon dioxide.

An American biologist Craig Venter is also a successful businessman, who founded The Institute for Genomic Research. Genetic engineering is the main interest of his work, that has provoked a great deal of heated debate by his latest project.

Algae are known for creating natural oil, which is already part of a number of experiments with biofuels. But Craig Venter is ready to find out more than that. He is trying to find out if it's possible to change the genomic make-up of algae in order to make them create oil of almost the same structure as the traditional crude oil. This possibility is so much better, as you can use current oil industry infrastructure like refineries, and even produce plastics in the same way as from crude oil refining employing the same production plants that are currently being used. As Exxon Mobile, being one of the most successful oil producers in the world, heard of all this, they gave Venter a $600 million subsidy to go on with his research.

And now you may be demanding, OK, but what is so great about it from the ecological point of view? Well, just this. Oil production based on algae could quite likely be the solution to one of the most serious threats facing the world today. During the photosynthesis process, plants take the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and use it to produce the oil, which is later burned and turned into oxalates. Of course, this miracle solution won't be available this or next year, but for sure it is a good way to go. The team of Craig Venter are trying to win where others have tried and failed, but this time there is a good chance of success. There are many people in Canada and elsewhere that would love to protect the environment, but due to their occupation, it is very difficult for them to stop using cars, just like so many of my Toronto real estate colleagues can't.

Photo: Saab Aero by gmeurope