Stan Beer
Wednesday, 04 March 2009 05:17
Opinion and Analysis
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A
CSIRO discovery could lead to a new boom industry that would not only
solve the world's energy problems but also its greenhouse gas concerns,
while creating much needed employment. It might sound too good to be
true, but the CSIRO, Australia's flagship research organisation, is no
pie in the sky organisation and it is deadly serious about this.
According to the CSIRO, the production of biodiesel from algae
could reduce greenhouse gas emissions, help to address future fuel
shortages and create jobs in rural Australia.
CSIRO Energy
Transformed researcher Dr Tom Beer and his team discovered the humble
organisms’ green credentials during a detailed life-cycle analysis of
the benefits of algal biodiesel.
“Our research has shown that
under ideal conditions it is possible to produce algal biodiesel at a
lower cost and with less greenhouse gas emissions than fossil diesel,”
Dr Beer said.
“The greenhouse gas reductions are the result of
avoiding the use of a fossil resource for fuel production, capturing
methane produced by the processed algae to generate energy and taking
into account the potential greenhouse gas offsets from industry.”
Algae
thrive on carbon dioxide (CO2), which means that environmentally
damaging CO2 emissions from industry could also become a useful
resource.
Algal biodiesel could also offer a number of other benefits, according to Dr Beer and his team.
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