ALGA (Photo credit: La maldición de Sísifo)
Algae, the green stuff suspended in and floating on the surface of over-fertilized (polluted) water, AKA scum, is supposed to save America’s dependence on foreign crude oil. The President has said so. He stated that “up to 17% of the oil we import for transportation” could be replaced with this fuel [1].
The Chemistry
To begin with, a mass of algae is not the same as a container of crude oil. Algae are small plant-like organisms living in water. Like all plants, they use the energy of sunlight to convert carbon dioxide (CO2, i.e., one carbon and two oxygen atoms per molecule) to plant matter. In chemical terms, crude oil is a pure hydrocarbon of the approximate composition CH2 (i.e., one carbon and two hydrogen atoms per molecule). The composition of algae is more like CH2O, sort of half way in between CO2 and CH2. Because of the remaining oxygen atom in the plant matter (CH2O), its energy content is substantially lower than that of a pure hydrocarbon. You might say that it is already half burnt (the end product of which, of course, is CO2).


Investigations into a case of alleged scientific misconduct have revealed numerous holes in the oversight of science and scientific publishing
OK this is the 10 (well OK I ended up with a lot more than 10) worst list of eco commercials:
Astrophysicists will tell you that the vast emptiness of outer space has no temperature. Space is empty, thus it is temperature-less. But ask a climatologist and you’ll be told space is ‘cold.’ Such fallacy spawned the fatal error in the junk science known as ‘greenhouse gas theory,’ also called the ‘greenhouse effect’ (GHE).
The UK’s Daily Mail newspaper showcases a worrying new study titled, “’Scientists falsify data to get research published and whistleblowers are bullied into keeping quiet,’ claim their own colleagues.”
An independent climate science think tank produces evidence from a leading infrared thermometer manufacturer proving that climatologists were mistakenly taking incorrect readings of atmospheric temperatures. Latest findings are set to trigger a paradigm shift in climate science.