Has the Algae Cavalry Arrived?

[GliderGuider]

A post on The Oil Drum looks at this question, and basically concludes, "Not quite yet."

In conclusion it seems that while their intentions may be heroic, GreenFuel and De Beers have promised way more than they can possibly deliver. I am so confident of this that I would love to extend a familiar $1000 bet on this. Unfortunately as seen here, no one can verify how much any of GreenFuel's plants produce at any time.

The future may hold a lot of promise for this technology though. A cheaper replacement for polycarbonate along with setting up reactors in third world countries with more PAR and cheaper labor may make this very realistic.

Maybe we will read something like this in 2025.

“Biodiesel prices rose on the MUMEX (Mumbai mercantile exchange) as India pledged to cut production to balance out the glut in inventories. India’s biodiesel minister was quoted as saying “$600 a barrel is a fair and equitable price.” Saudi Arabia which just turned importer last month is complaining that the high prices are wrecking its fragile economy and threatened to finally start using its trillion barrels of “proved“ resources to destroy the Biodiesel cartel.”

[phantom power]

1. A world "running" on $600/barrel oil (of any kind) will be unrecognizable.

Not much will be running at all, compared to today.