Southern Utes Invest in Algae

In nature, nothing is wasted. One organism’s waste stream becomes anothers source of energy. Wouldn’t it be great if that principle was applied to our carbon dioxide emissions? Natural gas plants, for instance, vent huge quantities of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Research on capturing that carbon, feeding it to carbon-loving algae, and harvesting the resulting algae oil to be the feedstock for biodiesel has been underway for some time. Check out a diagram of that process here. Recently, Solix Biofuels, an alternative energy start up based in Colorado, has capitalized on this research by installing an algae farm at a natural gas plant on the Southern Utes Indian Reservation. According to the New York Times, the Southern Utes have invested heavily in the project. Since the tribe makes its investment decisions with many future generations (not just quarterly profits) in mind, they had the long-run vision needed to make the project profitable.

Maybe every power plant needs an algae farm.