Vivona,+Tarrant.wiki.spring.2011

Nicholas Vivona and Kyle Tarrant Chemistry II  May 26, 2011 Biodiesel from Algae It has been named the greenest green fuel in the alternative to produce diesel fuel. The process of creating diesel fuel from algae. That’s right algae, what grows in abundance all across America in wetlands, ponds, and lakes. The world is approaching its peak in oil production, sending us in search of alternative ways to produce these fuels that keep the world running. “The U.S. vehicle fleet pumps 1.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year, and we pay foreign governments and corporations $820 million a day for the oil needed to do so”1. President Bush set out the “twenty in ten” plan, set “mandatory standards to raise production of renewable fuels to 35 billion gallons per year by 2017”2. Diesel fuel has become the easier fuel to reproduce from alternate sources besides petroleum extract from the ground. Diesel fuel plays a major role in the world, as it powers most transportation, trucks, marine vessels, and generators. Diesel fuel is used to power ships that carry food and goods from and to all parts of the world, and diesel trucks that carry over land. Diesel generators create electricity for major building and hospitals in case of power failure. Without fuel the world would be domed, and this is the reason to research for an alternative such as the creation of diesel from algae. Algae is created by water, sunlight, and carbon dioxide which is mainly what we pollute the air with on a daily bases. The oils produced from algae are then collected and processed into biodiesel. Carbohydrates in algae can be fermented in ethanol. Both of these process create a fuel that burns cleaner then any petro-based fuel. The process of biodiesel from algae also is another go green alternative, with the idea of pumping the carbon dioxide gases from power plants into controlled ponds to created algae. According to research, it isn’t all so simply “The water needs to be just the right temperature for algae to proliferate, and even then open ponds can become choked with invasive species. Atmospheric levels of CO2 also aren't high enough to spur exponential growth.”3 Carbon dioxide from power plants can be controlled and deliver the right amount to make this successful. While doing so will capture the gas before reaching the atmosphere, which is one of the strong greenhouse gases that is admitted to atmosphere. This will help with preserving the ozone layer that protects us from harmful sun rays and temperatures. In fact, given the right conditions algae can double over night. Three years ago, inventor from Colorado, Jim Sears, experimented and discovered the possibility to create alternative fuel from algae. To many this was a laughable matter and didn’t think it was possible. To be in fact, algae requires less acreage to produce the need amount for the United States then any other crop used to produce biodiesel now and doesn’t take way from or food source. “About 140 billion gallons of biodiesel would be needed every year to replace all petroleum-based transportation fuel in the U.S. It would take nearly three billion acres of fertile land to produce that amount with soybeans, and more than one billion acres to produce it with canola. Unfortunately, there are only 434 million acres of cropland in the entire country, and we probably want to reserve some of that to grow food. But because of its ability to propagate almost virally in a small space, algae could do the job in just 95 million acres of land.”4 These other ways of creating fuel are not suitable for replacing petroleum, if they can’t produce to amount need and we can’t take away from or food supply. Also driving the efforts in search of better ways to make biodiesel such as algae as a source is the price of crops that they were using to extract oils from. Algae may also be able to cut down on carbon dioxide emissions by taking the exhaust from power plants and facilities to feed the algae. Allow photosynthesis to take place and turn carbon dioxide leading cause of global warming into oxygen. Scientist say that algae is more agriculturally friendly and produces “carbon negative” energy which means to take out more carbon dioxide then it produces. In conclusion, Algae seems to be the next big thing in alternative fuel. So far there is nothing compared to the results and production that it is capable of. It is also environmentally friendly in almost all aspects and has the ability to produce enough fuel for the United States.

 The ocean has been long talked about in folklore, poems, and history textbooks for its might, power, and importance to civilization. And with oceans making up more than two thirds of the earth, it is a wonder why people have not harnessed more of its potential energy. Ocean currents and tidal currents could be easily captured and turned into tidal power, a form of hydro power that converts the energy of tides into electricity or other useful forms of power. Looking to the ocean for clean renewable energy would be a very efficient and reliable way to assist in solving the problem of global warming. Unlike electricity created through wind turbines and solar panels, tidal power is predictable. Wind speeds change constantly and the sun doesn’t always shine; However, coastal regions are always going to have two tidal cycles per day with currents that run at consistent velocities. Developing ways to transfer the oceans’ potential energy into clean mechanical energy is crucial in transitioning our society’s main power source from fossil fuels to renewable resources. Currently, there are only two mechanisms being used to harness tidal power that has been seen to be effective on the small scale.  Tidal barrages make use of potential energy through the difference in water levels induced by tides. When the tide comes in, a dam-like structure lets water pass through filling a relatively large body of water. At high tide the movement of water through the barrage is stopped. Once the tide has gone out the water is then released back through the dam where turbines transfer the water’s kinetic energy into mechanical energy. A tidal barrage on The Rance River near St. Malo, France is currently capable of producing 240 megawatts of power, and has been in operation since 1966.  Another way of capturing the oceans’ strength that is in use today has been seen in the form of tidal stream generators. These make use of the kinetic energy of moving water to power turbines. Tidal stream generators are the underwater equivalent to the wind turbines seen around the world today. One advantage that a water powered turbine has over a wind powered turbine is the sheer power of water. A current moving at eight knots generates more power than wind moving at two hundred miles per hour. Tidal turbines operate best where currents run between four and five and a half knots. As of the year 2007, six of these turbines located along the shore bed of Roosevelt Island in New York’s East River each generate thirty-five kilowatts and have powered a grocery store and parking garage on the island. However, this project has had some set-backs as tidal power does have its disadvantages Days after tidal turbines were placed on the bed of New York’s East River, currents sheared off the tips of some of the blades. When the blades were replaced with cast aluminum, the current proved still to be too strong for the turbines due to the excessive strain put on the bolts holding the blades to the turbine hubs, and the project was put on hold. Examples like this prove that maintenance costs for tidal turbines would be high. Marine environments are harsh and, over time, corrosive to metallic equipment. These high maintenance costs would only add to the already high price of constructing and installing these turbines in the first place. This, in turn, lengthens the payback period. Therefore the cost per kilowatt hour from tidal turbines cannot compete with the cost of fossil fuels. Even though tidal barrages are not as expensive to maintain as tidal stream generators, they too can be harmful in their own way. Tidal barrages that dam estuaries can prevent sea life migration. This paired with the silt build-ups found behind these facilities can have profound negative impacts on local ecosystems. Along with high prices, the limited amount of locations with the high tidal ranges and high flow velocities, and the damaging effects on ecosystems makes the concept of tidal power less feasible.  However, Ocean Power Delivery, a Scottish company, was successful in the installation of a 2.5 megawatt wave farm off of Portugal. Wave power is a new way of harnessing tidal currents. It is done through a chain of pipes that lay semi-submerged in the water and are tethered to the sea floor. In these power plants, waves are resisted by hydraulic rams which pump high pressure oil through a hydraulic motor that powers an electric generator. These newly developed wave farms are the least damaging to the environment, and do not cost as much to operate.  Due to this, the future of tidal power seems promising. Tapping into tidal power is vital in getting the most out of the earth’s natural energy sources. There are a known 106 potential sites for extracting tidal energy in the UK alone which would produce 48 TW/yr. if put into service. This coupled with diesel fuel made from algae could have significant effects on our environment. By tapping into these two forms of alternative energy, we could see a drastic change in our main sources of energy. Our society would go from one mainly dependent on fossil fuels with little use of alternative energy; to a society that mainly uses renewable resources with little use of fossil fuels.

media type="youtube" key="tSBACzRE3Gw?version=3" height="390" width="640" Bibliography
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 * Riddell. "Engineering and Technology" vol. 3 issue 16 (2009): p. 46-49. print.
 * R.F. Nicholls-Lee and S.K. Turnock. "Tidal Energy Extraction: Renewable, Sustainable and Predictable" vol. 91.1 (spring 2008): p. 81.print.
 * Kevin McCarthy E. "Tidal Energy Technology" (October 2007). print.