Can algae oil save our planet?
In our green real estate section we usually try to focus on environmentally friendly ideas 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 oil. Our daily routine has many important parts and oil is often one of them. People in the developed countries often cannot picture a life without a car, it is just so common to own one. As most of the realtors whose job requires driving around a lot, I do the same. Without our dear cars, the life would be so much more difficult. Unfortunately, we all know the two crucial problems related to driving: unsound oil supplies driving prices up and down and the environmental damage caused by fuel burning and the related carbon dioxide emissions.
Craig Venter is an American biologist and also a prosperous businessman who established The Institute for Genomic Research. He mainly deals with genetic engineering and his most recent project has aroused a great deal of heated debate.
Algae are known for producing natural oil, which is already part of some experiments with biofuels. But Venter has more aspirations than that. He is attempting to modify the genomic structure of algae in order to create oil, which is nearly identical to traditional crude oil. That would be a great step forward, as we would be able to use the available oil industry infrastructure such as refineries, and even plastics production could use the existing procedure and production plants as we are using currently, producing plastics from crude oil. It doesn't surprise us that one of the companies producing the most oil on the planet, Exxon Mobile, contributed $600 million for Ventor to further with his research.
And where is the ecological benefit, you might ask? It's right there. Oil production based on algae could quite probably be the solution to one of the most serious threats facing the world today. The carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is used by plants in the photosynthesis process, turned into oil which is then burned and changed 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 great chance of success. There are many people out there that want 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 fellow Toronto realtors can't.
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