Study says algae biofuel has dirty life dycle

Algae has seemed like a great biofuel candidate because it’s extremely efficent at creating energy from sunlight and it could potentially form closed loops for power plants – absorbing exhaust while creating new fuel — but a recent study has knocked algae off its pedestal.

University of Virginia researchers have found that the life cycle of algal biofuel produces high levels of greenhouse gas emissions — much more than it sequesters.

The culprit is the large amount of fertilizer used to produce the algae.  The fertilizers come from petroleum-bases sources and emit nitrous oxide.  The researchers propose using fertilizer from sewage plants as a way around the problem.

It looks like we’re still far away from an ideal biofuel, if there is one.

via Yale e360

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