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Weekly Blog Posts and Comments comprise 25% of your final class grade.

The class blog is an interactive forum in which you and your peers discuss each week’s class readings. Every week (ideally by Wednesday) you are required to post a thoughtful analysis that is 250-500 words in length. By Saturday, you are expected to have posted a detailed 250-500 word comment on a colleague’s post, identifying areas where you disagree/agree and making connections to other issues discussed in class. These assignments allow you to showcase your ability to engage in academic discussion and address areas that may not have been fully explored in class. You’re welcome to integrate your own interests and areas of expertise in these conversations.

Read:http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/algae-biofuel-growth-environmental-impact/

http://intelligencesquaredus.org/debates/past-debates/item/558-clean-energy-can-drive-americas-economic-recovery

Example:

This week we discussed biofuels, specifically using algae as a biofuel. Before this class I had only heard of using algae along interstates or other busy roads to capture some of the CO2 being realeased, but never read up on it or did any research of my own. I thought Friday’s guest lecture and the article for this week were very informative. I specifically enjoyed reading the article as it pointed out both the pros and cons of using algae as a biofuel. I was surprised to learn that algae is somewhat worse for the environment when compared to using other crops such as corn as a biofuel. The article pointed out that the engery used to convert algae into biofuels requires much more energy than using corn. However, while this added energy cost is not good for the environment the land requirement to produce algae is much lower than corn which is a very big positive. There is only a finite amount of land on earth and any possible way of conserving this land should be pursued. I also like the idea of using algae as a biofuel becuase of the way in which algae consumes CO2. Added CO2 levels into the atmosphere has been a major issue for years now, and I believe harnessing algae to help decrease this level is essential.
I found an article on using tobacco as a biofuel that I thought was interesting. This article says everything that makes tobacco unhealthy for humans, makes it good to use as a biofuel. While there is still a lot of research to be done on this proposed idea, progress has been made. While there are always many problems with developing a new source of fuel, right now the major set back is funding for the project. If this project can be supported economically more research can be done and a potential solution could be found.
Hoshaw, Lindsey. Tobacco Gets a Makeover as New Source for Biofuel.QUEST. N.p., 03 June 2014. Web. 06 Mar. 2015.

This week’s topic is so interesting yet somewhat foreign to me. Based solely on the presentation given yesterday, I am definitely a proponent of algae as a source of renewable energy. In my opinion, we need to make advances in alternative forms of energy. I read recently where over half of Germany’s energy comes from renewable sources. I think we (the US) need to invest money in other sources, such as algae. As a student in chemical engineering, I understand and fret the dependence we have on petroleum-based products. The article on Scientific American made an interesting point: to produce the amount of CO2 we need to grow algae requires a petroleum-based feedstock, essentially defeating the purpose of using algae in the first place! I enjoyed reading this brief article conveying some of the cons of using algae. I think using our own waste as a source of food’ for the algae is brilliant and inredibly sustainable. Of course, the problem lies in making it affordable and profitable, as is the problem with almost all sources of alternative energy. I think we have the space to farm algae and use it as a biofuel. Compared to the space we use to farm corn for biofuel, algae is much more efficient. I do not think algal biofuel is the ultimate solution for alternative energy sources. However, it does show promise! Considering American Airlines is already investing in it, there must be a future in it. With more research and improvement in the areas that make it unreasonable, I think algal biofuels may become a mainstream form of energy. Also, it seems safer than other forms of alternative energy, such as nuclear energy. I love the website How Stuff Works. I found this optimistic and informative article on how algae biofuel works. I found it interesting that a lot of the process used to farm and harvest energy from algae is already used in other processes.
Source:
Newman, Stefani. (2008). How Algae Biodiesel Works [online science article]. Retrieved from science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/algae-biodiesel.htm
This week’s topic is very interesting for me because I have never known about the algae for use in biofuels. Before reading the articles in the module, I know that corn is the only one thing for biofuels. However, throughout the readings in the module, I am able to know about algae for use in biofuels and I search about it. And, I figure out that the algae is considered as sustainable resources today and in the future. In the article Is Algae Worse than Corn for Biofuels? in the module, Katie Howell reports that the algae for biofuels has some problems. Lots of energy and extreme use of water are needed when we try to use the algae for biofuels. Besides, it is harmful for the environment because of emitting a lot of greenhouse gases. On the other hand, in the article what I found Use of algae as biofuel sources, the author states that algae for use in biofuels is considered as a sustainable resource because of its efficient. So, the author states that algae is one of the feedstock in the future because the algae is more efficient than any other resources such as corns or fuels.
Therefore, I think that the algae for biofuels can be a very useful sustainable resource because of efficient. However, it can’t also considered as a sustainable resource due to harmful of environment and high cost. So, I think that this topic is really debatable. As resources in Earth are decreasing today, the algae for use in biofuels is the best sustainable resource until other resources come out. Therefore, in my opinion, we should solve the problems of algae for use in biofuels to use it as sustainable resources in the future or find any other sustainable resources.
Demirbas, Ayhan. (2010). Use of algae as biofuel sources. Elsevier B.V. Retrieved March 3, 2015 from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0196890410002207

I was aware of the concept of biofuels before, but only recently learned about their economic and environmental (ironically) drawbacks, as well as the possibility of using algae as an energy source. To my surprise, the article Is Algae Worse than Corn for Biofuels points out that algae usage for producing has potentially worse effects on the environment than corn does. After going through the article however, my stance is pretty firmly aligned with algae usage. I share the article’s sentiment that more research is necessary to find out about algae’s true potential, and the facts it gave about algae’s ability to recycle nutrients from wastewater and corn production’s reliance on land only reinforced my opinion. Growing algae, which will require fertilizer, seems to be one of the biggest problems (I find this ironic too since there’s a lot of wild algae in freshwater streams), so if enough research is done to be able to extract nutrients from wastewater using algae, that would put algae well well ahead of other biofuel sources.
The following article I found about biofuels, specifically based on common crops such as corn, and their impact on food prices only makes me more certain about algae’s advantages. The article describes how not only the high demand for corn and soybean oil, around the time of biofuel’s inception, drove up food prices for that crop, but how the increased land space needed for growing these crops removed some of the land available for growing other crops. This in turn caused prices for other food crops to grow as well. In addition to crops, other food industries such as livestock industries saw higher prices as well. Due to their reliance on corn and soybean for feed, as more of the corn being used for feed was now being used for fuels, chicken, egg, and beef prices all rose as production of eggs and meat had to be slowed down. These economic repercussions, in addition to the environmental ones, make a pretty good case for biofuel sources that don’t require copious amounts of farm land.
Hurt, Chris. Alexander, Corinne. Biofuels and Their Impact on Food Prices. Department of Agricultural Economics Purdue University. Retrieved March 6, 2015 from https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/ID/ID-346-W.pdf

As mentioned in lecture, our search for energy leads to unintended and intended consequences. The pros that are associated with energy usage are those that we are familiar with in our everyday lives. The ones that he listed include the energy used for fuel, to keep us warm, and use of chemicals for industry and agriculture. However, along with the pros, there are many unintended consequences of using biofuels. Whales almost became extinct, deforestation is still going on today to create more land for the growing of certain biofuels, such as corn, and the use of biofuels has also lead to acid rain and climate change. Obviously, it is important that we can find a way to provide enough energy for our society but also in a way that will not harm the environment.
Out of the list of alternative energy sources that he showed, I liked the idea of using the energy stored in the biomass of food waste as a source of energy, seeing as it is just waste so we might as well put it to good use. An article that I found discusses the limit to how much food can be used for energy without compromising the amount we consume as food. Specifically, they did a study on the harvest of peaches in Italy. Out of the 1.4 million peaches harvested, none of them were used for energy. Rather, the pruning from cultivation, discarded peaches, and unsold nectar from distribution were then considered as bioenergy feedstock (De Menna 2014). However, that amount was insufficient to provide enough energy for the population, which was a con of using food waste. Unfortunately, it seems as though all of the biofuels that we can use have a major disadvantage to them. Although using algae seems most promising, algae have some downfalls such as water contamination. Hopefully we can find a way to harvest biofuels without compromising the environment surrounding us in the near future.
De Menna, Fabio. (December 2014). Impact evolution of integrated food-bioenergy systems: A comparative LCA of peach nectar. Retrieved March 6, 2015 fromhttp://www.sciencedirect.com.proxy2.library.illinois.edu/science/article/pii/S0961953414005352

Production of biofuels is a topic that I have been aware of for a long time. However, using algae to create fuel is a topic which I was not too educated on before this week’s module. From reading the articles in the module and the ones that I found it seems to be clear that currently creating fuel from algae would use up too much water, energy, and fertilizer. Although this does appear to be a pretty big road block in the path to creating fuel from algae many experts claim that this process should not be dismissed but further researched.
Members of the National Research Council state that United States Department of Energy, Should conduct assessments of proposed technologies that examine sustainability at all stages of fuel production, including growing or collecting algae and harvesting their oil and converting it into transportation fuels (Service 1). This in a way is a positive sign because it shows that perhaps by conducting research and development in the specific areas that need attention in this process a solution can be found.
Another interesting thing I learned was that there are several different methods by which to grow algae and there is no set best way. However, The NRC committee concluded that current technology scaled up to produce 39 billion liters a year€”approximately 5% of U.S. transportation fuel needs€”would require an unsustainable level of inputs(Service 1). This really surprised me because be able to provide just 5% of transportation fuel needs would already require an unsustainable amount of resources. This shows how much work is left to be done in this specific field.
Service, R. (2012, October 24). Large-Scale Algae Biofuels Currently Unsustainable, New Report Concludes. Retrieved March 6, 2015, from http://news.sciencemag.org/2012/10/large-scale-algae-biofuels-currently-unsustainable-new-report-concludes

The article on algae being considered a biofuel really surprised me because I was not even aware of it being able to be used as one. If I were asked of my thoughts on whether algae would make a good biofuel, even better the corn, I would have not even believed that algae would be considered a biofuel. After reading the article I was very surprised at how much better algae can be as a biofuel. Although the article is speaking negatively towards algae usage saying on how it consumes more energy and has higher greenhouse gas emission, I believe that it is a better alternative. The major problems here is that the nutrients algae thrives comes from outside source that you would have to implement, so its fertilizer demand is just way too high, and algae takes in CO2 which would have to be implemented in using petroleum. Simple solutions to this, which the article also pointed out is to place the algae ponds near wastewater to obtain its nutrients. This idea of using algae as a biofuel seems in the long and short run better for the environment.
Algae usage of biofuels is not the only method for alternatives. One method I read up on is the use of chicken feather meals as a biofuel. These chicken feather meals are high in nitrogen and protein, and its fat contents are extracted out and converted into biofuel. The good thing about this is that the can still use the chicken feather meal as a feed and biofuel because certain components can be separated to meet both needs. There are many alternatives to use as biofuels that people come up with. Each with their benefits and downfalls.
Fuel from Chicken Feathers? (n.d.). Retrieved March 6, 2015, from http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/fuel-from-chicken-feathers/

I never really knew that much about this topic prior to reading the algae article and listening to the intelligence squared debate. Algae as a source of renewable fuel is very intriguing to me, and I never would never have even consider using something that is thought to grow in ponds and other bodies of water to power my vehicles. Based off of the article, I can see that there is a debate whether or not algae is a better alternative to corn to convert into biofuels. I really enjoy the article because it focuses on the pros and cons of algae. For example, it says that algae production consumes more energy. To me, this is pretty contradictory because as a society we are attempting to use different plants, such as corn, to reduce the energy output. However, although this does raise some red flags, the researchers did find that algae could produce four to five times more biomass energy per hectare than conventional crops, such as corn. So, my question is, how much more energy does algae consume, compared to conventional crops? By creating a simple mathematical approach, we can possibly negate the claim that algae consumption is bad. For example, if algae only consume twice the amount of energy as corn to produce biofuels, researchers show that it produces four times as much biomass energy, which is more efficient.

The article I found focuses on the pros of algae, rather than the cons. One thing that this article claims is that algae can potentially produce up to sixty times the amount of oil compared to land-based plants. This is important, because then we can use corn for actually feed, rather than fuel, which can feed other populations. Furthermore, we are using efficiency and using little inputs to produce maximum outputs.

Energy 101: Algae to Fuel. Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Fuels. Retrieved on March 5, 2015 from http://energy.gov/eere/videos/energy-101-algae-fuel