by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.30.10
Science & Technology (alternative energy)
If it sometimes seems that second generation biofuels, and especially algae biofuels, also seem to be commercially just over the horizon, after just one more demonstration or pilot plant is completed, you're not mistaken. According to a new report from the Department of Energy, while algae biofuels do hold much promise it's going to be a number of years before wide-scale commercial deployment.
If you want to delve into how the DoE thinks we can get to commercialization of algae biofuels, check out the National Algal Biofuels Technology Roadmap [PDF], but here's the gist of it, from the New York Times:
[The report] paints a picture of the extensive research that will be needed to do so. "The Roadmap Workshop effort suggests that many years of both basic and applied science and engineering will likely be needed to achieve affordable, scalable, and sustainable algal-based fuels," DOE wrote.
Al Darzins, a contributor to the report and group manager with the National Bioenergy Center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, stressed in an interview that algae is far less developed, technologically, than biodiesel fuel or corn ethanol.
"We need to understand the biology much better before we have, in the future, systems that work consistently," Darzins said.
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