Oil Industry
Will algae oil save us?
Can oil made by algae save us?
In our green real estate section, you can usually read articles on green tips for our homes. However, this time it will be about some intriguing research, which can help us to get rid of the feelings of guilt connected with driving our oil guzzling cars. One of the essential parts of our everyday lives is oil. Almost everyone in the developed countries has a car, which is a fundamental part of everyday life, and so do I, as most of the realtors who have to drive around their neighbourhoods on a daily basis. Life would just be difficult without our beloved car. The prices of oil are driven up and down by the unsure oil supplies and our nature is suffering from carbon dioxide emissions and fuel burning. These are the well-known basic problems of driving.
Craig Venter is an American biologist and also a successful businessman who founded The Institute for Genomic Research. Genetic engineering is the main topic of his work, that has caused a great deal of heated debate by his most recent project.
Algae are known for creating natural oil, which is already part of some experiments with biofuels. But Venter has more ambitions than that. He is trying to find out if it’s possible to adjust the genomic make-up of algae in order to make them produce oil of almost the same structure as the traditional crude oil. If that works out, we would be able to use the current refineries and other oil industry infrastructure already available. Also plastics could be made the same way as from crude oil refining, using the existing production plants. As Exxon Mobile, being one of the largest oil producers in the world, heard of all this, they gave Venter a $600 million grant to go on with his research.
Now your concern might be, where is the ecological benefit? Well, right here. The oil created by algae might well contribute to coping with one of the most difficult problems of our world. The carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is used by plants in the photosynthesis process, turned into oil which is then burned and turned into oxalates. Of course, this prodigious solution won’t be available this or next year, but apparently it is a good way to go. The team of Craig Venter are trying to succeed where others have tried and failed, but this time there is a good chance of success. There are many people in Canada and elsewhere that would love to go easy on the environment, but due to their occupation, it is very difficult for them to stop using cars, just like my Toronto real estate colleagues can’t.
