Alternative Clean Transportation Expo — Biofuels from Algae

Yesterday, I attended the Alternative Clean Transportation Expo, in Long Beach, California. The show was dominated not by electric transportation (though EVs did enjoy a certain representation) but by natural gas.  There was also some representation of biofuels, in particular, biodiesel. Even its proponents, however, understand that it is at best a “bridge” fuel, and that, if there is any real hope for biofuels in the medium-term, it lies in algae.

Speaking of research into algae, I had a long cordial talk with Jim Ruby, Assistant Director of Fleet Services at the University of California at San Diego, who knows Greg Mitchell, the professor I interviewed for my first book, Renewable Energy — Facts and Fantasies. Apparently, Dr. Mitchell is still hard at work on the enterprise that we discussed when I spoke with him five years ago: building a laboratory scale algae pond that has the potential to scale to significant sizes.

He’s a smart guy, but candidly, I’m betting against him; in particular, I believe that by the time, if any, that algae-based biofuels are commercializable, there will be no further need for liquid fuels, and that battery-based electric transportation will have won the day.