Dateline Earth’s fascination with algae as a possible energy source to end dependence on fossil fuels moved into another phase this week as we discovered that algae could help slow global warming in a whole different way: By scrubbing carbon dioxide out of industrial emissions.
Jim Bruggers of the Louisville Courier-Journal (author of the worthwhile Watchdog Earth blog) had this story about how University of Kentucky researchers are joining other researchers in this pursuit.
We wished the story had started with what ended up as the second graf:
Call it the pond scum solution.
(Darn editors. Can’t live with ‘em, can’t shoot ‘em.)
The UK researchers’ idea, in a state like Kentucky where coal is king, is to keep the world’s dirtiest and global-warmingest fuel viable, Bruggers reports:
After soaking up the carbon dioxide, the algae would be converted into fuel. The burned algae fuel would release carbon dioxide, but only after the energy from the coal had essentially been used twice.
The result effectively cuts in half the amount of carbon dioxide released from the coal, Andrews said.
So, while it’s not a total win, might this qualify as a winner in Dateline Earth’s search for the 100 one percent solutions to global warming? Could be — perhaps if only to make coal an acceptable bridge fuel. Let’s see if they can work it up to a stage where it has commercial applicability first, though.
Update 1:16 p.m.: We see that Bruggers has also offered a series up updates on the algae story worldwide in this blog post.