Chlorophyll Collective is a presently experimenting with the use of algae to promote more sustainable living.

In prep for Burning Man, Chlorophyll Collective built a mobile bioreactor unit using algae at Burning Man which they taught and showcased as a open source approach at the event.

They have also been featured at the Green City Gallery in Berkeley.

Megan Bracken (aka Meggio Omega) reports on her Tribe.net blog about how the well reported “premature burn” of the Man led to the shutdown of the whole Green Man section of the event affected their exhibit. Apparently no one in the collective was able to go to check on the system for one week as the BM staff raced to rebuild “the man.” From Meggio’s comments this decision to close the Green Man Pavilion seemed quite controversial.

Their system which they call “the Single Cell Solution” is designed to grow in a vertical closed-system using bioreactor tubes. In the process of growing the algae they have developed a process for bubbling the exhaust through it. In this process the algae absorbs the CO2 in the exhaust while it photosynthesizes enabling it to grow. The system includes the use of energy-efficient lighting to synthesize sunlight and stimulate photosynthesis at night. This is so the process continues day and night, whenever the generators are running.

The algae which are the most efficient photosynthetic organism on earth have high oil content. Because of this, many believe they can be converted into an efficient and renewable energy source for humanity. The idea is that the oil can be extracted from the algae and made into biodiesel or simply fed into the gen-set on a diesel configured to run on Straight Vegi Oil (SVO).

Currently this technology is relatively far from being commercially feasible at this time with many development stage companies competing for Venture Capital to develop this promising resource and experimental concept into a commercially viable source of renewable energy.

Reuters reports that several inventors from Wales have developed what they call the “Greenbox.”

This sounds like a big breakthrough. However its not like this is the first time I have read one of these “silver bullet technology” stories.

The fact that these folks are so secretive of course makes it hard to evaluate the viability of the technology.

Developed by organic chemist Derek Palmer and engineers Ian Houston and John Jones, the technology is now being promoted as a way to successfully capture a majority of the emissions and has led to the formation of Maes Anturio Limited, which translates from Welsh as Field Adventure.

They apparently stumbled across the idea while experimenting with carbon dioxide to help boost algae growth for fish farming.

They now have the backing of their local member of parliament and are seeking capital either from government or industry

The system uses canister to replace a car exhaust that will last for a full tank of petrol. It has to be replaced at each fill up and that of course means an system to process and transport the material would have to deployed parallel to the existing petrol filling station infrastructure.

The idea is that this could be an alternative model for a biofuel economy that would be zero emissions and closed loop. The waste gases collected by the system (which would be located on each individual automobile) would then be recycled into a vast algae growing infrastructure. This would include thousands of acres of specially designed algae farms. The farms would grow special algae that would be grown to extract the oil from inside their cell walls. The next step would involve setting up biorefineries to process the oil in a way that is very similar to how conventional oil is processed (except hopefully without the pollution and ecological destruction).

The crucial aspect of the technology is that the carbon dioxide is captured and held in a secure state, said Houston. Conventional carbon capture technologies are much more cumbersome or energy-intensive, for example using miles of pipeline to transport the gas. There is no word on the cost of this technology.

The California Product Stewardship Council is a nonprofit association made up of representatives from cities and counties all over CA. Their mission is to shift California’s product waste management system from one focused on government funded and ratepayer financed waste diversion to one that relies on producer responsibility in order to reduce public costs and drive improvements in product design that promote environmental sustainability.

More…
CPSC is seeking out examples not only from communities in California, but others around the world who have adopte Extended Producer Responsibility or Product Stewardship resolutions.

Communities that have implemented Advance Recycling Fees for household batteries are also of interest. A quick description of the program, and if it’s been successful, would be helpful.

Roberta Dunlap City of San Jose
Environmental Services Department
170 W. San Carlos St
San Jose CA 95113
(408) 277-5364
FAX (408) 277-2357
Roberta.dunlap@sanjoseca.gov

Debbie Basher
City of San Jose – Environmental Services
Integrated Waste Management, Attn. Debbie Basher
200 East Santa Clara Street, 10th Floor Tower
San Jose, CA 95113-1905
debbie.basher@sanjoseca.gov
phone (408)-975-2514
Fax: (408) 292-6211

Check out: www.sjrecycles.org

Gary Liss
916-652-7850
Fax: 916-652-0485
www.garyliss.com