Will algae oil save our planet?
In our green real estate section we usually try to focus on environmentally friendly advice for our homes. If you drive around every day in a car that consumes more and more gas and you feel guilty, this article will bring you some interesting information about a new research. One of the crucial parts of our everyday routine is oil. People in the developed countries often cannot imagine 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. Imagine a life without a car - isn’t it almost impossible? The prices of oil are driven up and down by the unsure oil supplies and our nature is suffering from carbon dioxide emissions and fuel burning. These are the well-known basic problems of driving.
Craig Venter is an American biologist and also a successful enterpreneur who founded The Institute for Genomic Research. He predominantly deals with genetic engineering and his latest project has provoked a great deal of heated debate.
We already know that algae can produce natural oil. This has been the interest of several experiments with biofuels. But Venter has higher aspirations than that. He is attempting to modify the genomic structure of algae in order to produce oil, which is nearly identical to traditional crude oil. This option is so much better, as you can use existing oil industry infrastructure like refineries, and even make plastics in the same way as from crude oil refining using the same production plants that are currently being used. It doesn’t surprise us that one of the companies producing the most oil on the planet, Exxon Mobile, gave $600 million for Ventor to go on with his research.
Now your question might be, where is the ecological benefit? Well, right here. The oil created by algae could well contribute to coping with one of the most difficult problems of our world. During the photosynthesis process, plants utilize the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and use it to create the oil, which is later burned and turned into oxalates. Of course, this prodigious solution won’t be available this or next year, but definitely 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.