Comments on: 150mpg Algae-Powered Toyota Prius

By: adele

adele — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 14:48:28 +0000

When can you come by my home & leave this behind? I’ll even trade it for my current Prius.

By: Lou Gage

Lou Gage — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 15:28:04 +0000

As I write this in August 2010 I wonder if the cross county trip was made on only 25 Gallons of fuel as projected in the news release. Does anyone have update on this trip? LouG

By: cherie byrd

cherie byrd — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:50:52 +0000

Hi ya’ll…

I got my answer re: rebate on electric cars. Maybe I’m the only one who was in the dark…however, the current rebate is 10% of the purchase price or $2500, whichever is less. Apparently, it was as high as $6,000 which almost paid for a NEV, Bubble Car, Zenn, etc. The new cars and hybrids are pricey relative to their peers in the marketplace. Still exploring the point of return on investment, if it is even realistic.

Kind of like driving across town to save a buck with a coupon. There is a point of vanishing return.

By: Roy

Roy — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 06:22:47 +0000

Cherie,
Yes, point well taken. Quite a quandary this world is in and I suspect the answer lies in some manner of catastrophe either way, sadly. Cheers (sic) – Roy

By: cherie byrd

cherie byrd — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:18:20 +0000

I love all these comments, and thank you especially to Mark for his enlightenment.

Also, for Roy…I’m probably a little younger than you, but not too much. With the rate different societies are reproducing (Japan is in really bad shape) there aren’t enough babies being made to assume tax burden and support of aging populations. We should be careful what we wish for. When you get beyond western(ized) societies the problem is in the reverse.

Who knows about tax credit for electric “golf carts” that are apparently quite the vogue in Sarasota (specifically St. Armand’s Key) Florida?

Lastly, I pick up propane tanks, why not algae tanks?

By: Leilah Franklin

Leilah Franklin — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 01:15:15 +0000

Algae Diesel is a renewable source, because the production of Algae takes away CO2 from the air. Making the production of Algae diesel virtually a neutral source, where as veggie biodiesel has air pollution and with electric cars people are plugging into grids that use non sustainable energy sources. Algae is also wonderful because it is easily cultivated and does not promote deforestation like Ethanol. The idealistic future of algae is one that is fed by fish waste in a “eco-friendly fishery”. Algae is an everlasting source that should be used and cultivated for the future of this worlds energy crisis

By: Roy

Roy — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 02:49:48 +0000

These are all cool ideas for sure but only offer temporary solutions because the human population of this planet has far exceeded the natural carrying capacity. Few people wish to even acknowledge this much less to actually do anything about it . Our evolutionary programing is so very strong that we will deny any data that may threaten our personal reproduction. After all, “you and I” have superior genes while it is the “other people” who should cease to reproduce. In this sense, pollutants that restrict our breeding may be somewhat beneficial except for the fact that these pollutants affect other organisms as well. “Make love not war” was a catch phrase of my generation but we got it wrong. Making love (with reproduction as the result) fewer resources for humanity at large thus it leads to more wars .

I gain solace in the knowledge that at my age, I at least will be dead before world population becomes totally unbearable. At least we are not as yet “bleeding in each others wounds”.

By: Vance Rossberg

Vance Rossberg — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:27:21 +0000

I really like this idea. How do you convert to that fuel?

By: Manroop

Manroop — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:19:19 +0000

Biocentric has come out with a closed loop algae growing system. Water use is very conservative.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:41:03 +0000

Hi Cherie Byrd,

There are many ways in which to produce biofuel algae, ponds are one way which takes up a substantial amount of land and use lots of water. It is also not very effective. However, you can also grow algae in bioreactors, these are closed systems where the water does not vaporise but is constantly circulated around. There are some issues with the water heating up due to the missing cooling effect of the vaporisation, but I am sure that we will work these problems out by using some combo systems.

Algae fuels are very much the fuel of tomorrow and they can be fed with the CO2 that fossil fuel plants emit, making a conventional coal plant almost CO2 neutral (in theory because the biofuels will eventually emit the captured CO2)

By: Manroop

Manroop — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 01:50:43 +0000

Any of you folks interested in Algie production should check out what Biocentric energy holding, stock BEHL.pk is doing! Especially you Cherie, water usage by Biocentric will be of great interest to you!!

By: Shirley Ann Watts

Shirley Ann Watts — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:05:30 +0000

I have a 2007 Prius, can it be converted to use algae? And tell me more about the battery I would need. Also, I live in Alabama, where is anything about green energy around here? I would love to do something to improve the energy situation. I’m 62 and need to do more before the end of my time.

Thank you,
Ann

By: cherie byrd

cherie byrd — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:23:44 +0000

I’m doing a research paper, and have always been curious about how much water used and wasted with new technology. I.e., bamboo fabric is great, but not for the environment and use of water, same with algae fuel, solar power, and I’d like to be enlightened all the other new stuff that requires not only lots of water to make the end product, but subsequent environmental issues. Coffee (field to market) was an issue years ago – still is in some places.

Water is such a valuable commodity. Are we cutting off our nose to spite our face, if we’re wasting it to fix other problems.

I would REALLY appreciate some input and maybe resources here. Thank you, Cherie

By: Jos Conil

Jos Conil — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 05:04:41 +0000

This is a great leap forward for an alternate fuel. As stated in the article, algae fuel may not be the one stop solution for all transport fuel needs, but it is a viable alternative fuel using the same IC engines that we have now.