Algae - The new battery?

We may not like it in our aquariums too much, but people are starting to find great applications for algae in the real-world - from giant algae scrubbers to reduce pollution, cleaning waste water and now possibly batteries as well that are bio-degradable and quick charging. Researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden claim that algae-based batteries will hold 200% more charge than regular cellulose batteries and recharge in 11 seconds.


Photo Credit: inhabitat

Next time you are pulling hair algae, perhaps knowing about all these wonderful things will help the pain.


Source:
Algae! The next big thing for Ultra-Thin Biodegradable Batteries

 

speaking of algae, they are using it to make ethanol too: Algae farm in Mexico to produce ethanol in '09 | Green Tech - CNET News

 

They have plans of building an algae farm for ethanol here. I would like to see something built in this town. I don't have high hopes for this type of project though.

 

Nope, me neither.

The above link about the Mexican one is fataly flawed and will be a nearly billion dollar waste. Phytoplankton does not lend itself to staying "modified" for that long.

There is a HUGe reason we, the worlds largest producer of marine phytoplankton concentrates have not even thought about jumping on that bandwagon. It's just not a feasible/viable option. once the grants/funding run out, these places will be a great place to pick up parts very cheap Their loss will be our gain in the long run

 

haha!

 

i'm glad i am not the only one who has some real doubts about this working out. it just seems silly to me really as the amount of algae it would take to clean up the oceans would be larger than the oceans,wich are filled with algae anyways? sometimes i think i must be really missing something or the whole world really has gone crazy! algae batteries? ethanol that uses more fossil fuel to make than it replaces? not to mention how horrible most cars run on it? i don't know...
i'm really interested in hydroelectric power, like the hoover dam. it provides all the electricity for vegas i believe,is totally eco friendly,has no negative wastes,requires extremely little maintenance and most importantly works! i can't understand why these dams arent being created and utilised all over the country. it would be the end of our problems as far as electricity goes? sometimes i wonder if solving the problem is really even on the agenda? am i missing something?

 

Dams come with their own eco problems.

They can change the temp of rivers of which negatively effects aquatic life.

They can stop migration paths, espcially large ones like Hoover.

Plenty more problems as well, like the loss of habitat they are flooding.

 

Not to mention, a dam the size of Hoover in Kansas would make a lake half the state wide. The layout of the land makes dams difficult at best. I do like the idea though. That and wind turbines. Those come with their own problems as well.

 

hmmm. those seem like pretty minor problems compared 2 nuclear or coal. thanks for responding though as i hadn't thought of any of those side effects

 

i was thinking more of the mountainous regions of the country where the water is already heading down 2 the rivers and out to sea anyhow
those wind farms seem silly to me but in all honesty i know next to nothing about them