Source: www.space.com

An ambitious solar sail mission designed by Japan is poised for launch tomorrow could become the first successful mission powered solely by sunlight, but that’s not all. The spacecraft is also aimed at Venus and beyond, and could pave the way for a future hybrid space engine.

The solar sail will hitch a ride aboard an H-2A rocket slated for launch on Monday (Tuesday local time) from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center. That rocket carries the main mission of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Venus Climate Orbiter called Akatsuki — which means “Dawn” in Japanese.

But only Akatsuki has a planned meet-up with Venus, even though the sail — called Ikaros (Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) — will also launch along the same trajectory toward the mysterious planet.

“This will be the world’s first solar powered sail craft employing both photon propulsion and thin film solar power generation during its interplanetary cruise,” said a JAXA mission website.

Venus would mark just a six-month pit stop for the solar sail during a three-year trek toward the far side of the sun.

“To me it’s a very bold activity to be conducting a technology test like this on an interplanetary mission,” said Louis Friedman, an executive director of the Planetary Society in Pasadena, Calif. “I think it shows a lot of foresight on their part.”

Past solar sail demonstrations have fallen short of achieving actual solar-propelled spaceflight, but that certainly has not stopped JAXA from planning an ambitious technological debut. Even Ikaros itself represents just a stepping stone to a “hybrid” space engine that incorporates solar sail technology, mission planners have said.

Space hybrid vehicle

The kite-shaped Ikaros relies upon the pressure of sunlight for propulsion, but it also carries thin film solar cells built within its sail. Such cells could generate electricity from the same sunlight pushing the solar sail along.

That won’t do much good by itself for a solar sail without an engine. But JAXA hopes that the power-gathering demonstration could eventually lead to spacecraft with ion-propulsion engines that draw electricity from solar cells and also take advantage of solar sail propulsion — a hybrid propulsion system.

“They want to ultimately have a solar electric [ion propulsion] and solar sail vehicle that would be used for outer planetary missions,” Friedman told SPACE.com.

Yet the history of solar sail tests presents a sobering reminder of the troubles that can arise. The California-based Planetary Society attempted to fly its Cosmos-1 solar sail in 2005, but lost their prototype because of a Russian rocket malfunction. NASA’s NanoSail-D was also lost in the third failed flight of SpaceX’s Falcon 1 rocket in 2008.

A British shoebox-sized mission slated for launch next year might also test solar sail propulsion, but would mainly test the sails as brakes for taking defunct satellites down.

Japan did deploy a solar sail from a sounding rocket in 2004, but did not actually attempt to demonstrate controlled flight. If that represented the dry run, then Ikaros comes as the real deal.

True solar sailing

Ikaros is designed to unfurl its sail during its first stage by taking advantage of its spinning momentum, and then actively deploying the rest of the way during a second stage.

“The membrane is deployed, and kept flat, by its spinning motion,” the JASA mission website stated. “Four masses are attached to the four tips of the membrane in order to facilitate deployment.”

The Planetary Society still has ambitions to someday launch a solar sail mission into deep space, but its first planned solar sail test would involve a much smaller spacecraft than Ikaros, which stretches almost 66 feet (20 meters) at the diagonal of its square sail.

A refitted NASA solar sail might weigh a little less than 10 pounds (4.5 kg) compared to the 700-pound (315 kg) Ikaros.

The Planetary Society would aim first for launch to low-Earth orbit, before eventually launching a second mission that lasted perhaps weeks. Only the third mission would try for interplanetary traveler status, Freidman said.

For now, Friedman and the Planetary Society will share technological information and results from the JAXA mission, and keep an eye on their own hopes for the future.

“We wish we were first, of course, but it doesn’t matter,” Friedman said. “It’s about advancing solar sail technology.”

Source:  http://cleantechnica.com

Solar power technology is moving forward by leaps and bounds, with some new advancements being built out into usable installations virtually every day. Design concepts once thought to be ‘pie in the sky’ ideas are being implemented, and making a simple solar panel array look like old-school technology.

1. Water Cooled Solar Panels: The Pyron Solar Triad uses a specially designed, short focal-length, acrylic concentrating lens to reflect and refracts the light, effectively concentrating it to equal the power of 6,500 suns in a small pinpoint of light. A secondary optic captures this concentrated light and focuses it on a small PV cell. According to the company, the HE Optics System produces 800 times more electricity than a similarly-sized silicon solar cell.

2. Home Solar to Hydrogen Storage: An MIT professor, Daniel Nocera, formed a company this year to commercialize a new technology that can “split water” and store solar energy. The company’s key objective now is to achieve a solar energy breakthrough by to making solar energy cheap and widespread.

“The idea is to use solar panels to power the electrolyzer to produce hydrogen which would be stored in tanks. When people need electricity, the stored hydrogen would put through a fuel cell.”

3. Solar Roof Shingles, Printable and Paintable Solar Panels: If solar power was as easy to install as putting new shingles on your house, or painting your roof with a solar paint, it would lower the bar for home solar installation. The paintable solar technology is called silicon ink, and according to the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, solar cells using the technology have “demonstrated a record 18 percent conversion of efficiency.” Solar shingles, by Dow Chemical, should be available in limited supply by mid 2010 and then readily available by 2011, says the company.

4. Large Thin Film Solar Panels: The SunFab™ system uses amorphous silicon based thin film technology to deliver the world’s largest and most powerful thin film panels and combines low-cost materials with one of the industry’s most advanced fabrication technologies.The company’s thin film solar panels have a frameless design, eliminating two predominant field reliability challenges for thin film panels: water penetration and weakened structure integrity over time.

5. Organic Solar Concentrators: Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have created a sophisticated and affordable method to turn ordinary glass into a high-tech solar concentrator, using dye-coated glass to collect and channel light which is usually lost from the surface of the panels. This technology could allow buildings to use tinted windows to collect energy. Another company, GreenSun, has developed bright-colored panels which capture different parts of sun’s spectrum, and don’t need direct sunlight to work.

6. Space Based Solar: Japan is developing a giant space based solar power generator to transmit solar energy to earth from 36,000km above the earth within the next 30 years. The Japanese government is backing the $21 billion project, which will include a solar power space station with four square kilometers of solar panels, cranking out an estimated 1 gigawatt of electricity - enough for almost 300,000 homes in Tokyo.

7. Solar Roads: The Solar Roadways concept, would pave roads with glass panels to collect and distribute solar energy to light the road at night and heat it in winter, with enough electricity leftover to power homes and businesses. The founder, Scott Brusaw, estimates that each mile of solar panels could power 500 homes, and estimates that the cost of producing a single 12′ X 12′ Solar Roadway panel could reach about $5,000.

8. Concentrated Solar: Stirling Energy System’s SunCatcher, consisting of a solar concentrator in a dish structure supporting an array of curved glass mirrors, may be deployed in Arizona soon, the first commercial-scale installation of the world’s most efficient solar technology. The SunCatcher employs a system of mirrors attached to a parabolic dish to concentrate the sun’s energy onto a high‐efficiency Stirling Engine, with each dish generating up to 25,000 watts of power.

9. Nanotechnology Solar: Researchers at McMaster University in Ontario have grown light-absorbing nanowires made of high-performance photovoltaic materials on thin but highly durable carbon-nanotube fabric. They’ve also embedded the tiny particles in flexible polyester film which could lead to solar cells that are both flexible and cheaper than today’s photovoltaics. In other nano-news, a team from the University of Southanpton’s School of Physics and Astronomy has developed a new range of photovoltaic devices using a process found in vegetative methods of light harvesting (photosynthesis), to deliver unprecedented amounts of electrical current from light.

10. Integrated Grid Ready Solar: Andalay AC solar panels, built with Akeena Solar’s proprietary technology, integrates the racking, wiring and electrical grounding components into the panels themselves. According to the company, this safeguards against breakdowns and boosts system reliability, delivering thousands of dollars in savings throughout its 30 year lifetime. The Andalay AC solar panels produce safe household AC power, and will enable a safer and easier installation process for solar installers and do-it-yourselfers by reducing the number of parts by 80% and eliminating complicated and potentially dangerous DC wiring. The Andalay AC solar panels were named as a Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Product for 2009.

As a bonus solar technology to watch out for, CoolEarth’s solar balloons are made with metallic plastic films, with half of the balloon being transparent, which lets the sunlight in to be concentrated on a small high-efficiency solar panel. The balloons are 8 feet across and suspended with a patented support system,  based on the architectural principles of tensegrity. (stabilized by continuous tension or “tensional integrity” rather than by compression.) The resulting suspension system of posts and steel cables uses a minimum amount of material, has a small footprint, and causes the least disruption to the natural environment of any solar power plant.

Source:  http://online.wsj.com

SEOUL—Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Co. separately started selling solar-powered phones Wednesday, a big step in a budding trend of cellphone makers seeking to tap growing consumer interest in eco-friendly products.

Samsung rolled out a touch-screen model, dubbed Blue Earth, with a shell made from recycled plastic water bottles and a solar panel on the back. LG’s model, called the GD510 Pop, also has a touch screen but its solar panel is an optional add-on.

Consumer demand for solar-based phones is hard to gauge, but makers are planning to market them as good for the environment as well as a way to hedge against running out of battery power.

Both the Samsung and LG phones have features that promote walking, such as software that measures distance traveled, and allow customers to calculate how much they can reduce carbon dioxide emissions with physical activities that replace driving.

“It is premature to say whether they will be successful, but overall it’s the right direction because people are increasingly interested in saving energy,” says Park Sung-min, a telecom industry analyst at Kyobo Securities in Seoul.

Samsung is aiming the Blue Earth model at premium customers, with pricing around $300. The phone, which can also be charged with a traditional plug-in cord, is initially available in Sweden; Samsung said it will quickly roll it out elsewhere in Europe and Asia.

LG said the Pop phone will also initially be sold in Europe and be priced around $300 with the optional solar panel about $50. The companies said decisions are pending about U.S. sales.

Samsung said the Blue Earth phone can accept enough charge under an hour of normal sunlight to allow for 10 minutes of talk. LG said the Pop model permits about 13 minutes of talk after being charged for an hour under normal sunlight. The companies said the phones will also charge under artificial light, but more slowly.

Nokia Corp., the world’s largest cellphone maker by units and revenue, introduced a solar-based cellphone in 1997 but it didn’t continue in the company’s regular lineup. The company earlier this year demonstrated a concept phone that runs entirely on solar power.

Samsung, the second-largest maker, in June introduced its first solar-based phone, a bar-shaped model with a normal keypad and solar cells on the back. That phone, called Solar Guru in some markets and Crest Solar in others, was aimed chiefly at developing countries and sells for as little as $60. But Samsung also offers it in some wealthy European countries like France.

Source: http://cleantechnica.com

The Green Tomato Cars is an affordable option for those who are in need of a transportation service. They don’t charge more than a traditional taxi for their services, but their fleet is made up of Toyota’s hybrid Prius vehicles. Since naturally, there are still emissions from the vehicles, The Green Tomato Cars participates in double funding offsetting projects in order to reduce their carbon footprint even further both for their corporation and for their clients.

The Green Tomato Cars has already proven that they’re ready to be cutting-edge in terms of their business plan, and they’ve embraced another modern trends, using Twitter as a way for commuters and others in need of transportation services to book their cabs.

Source:  www.guardian.co.uk

If we were stuck on a desert island with only one book, this recently unveiled solar e-book would be at the top of our list. Designed by LG Display, the sleek reader features a wafer-fin photovoltaic cell that provides it with a steady stream of solar energy. Whereas most e-books run the risk of losing juice mid-sentence through your next novel, this solar reader’s omnipresent energy source makes it a winning design in our book.

At first glance e-readers offer a great set of benefits over paper-bound books – they’re light, versatile, and a great alternative to lugging around a tote full of dead tree tomes on your next trip. The rise of e-readers also stands to stem the environmental repercussions of the publishing industry, as books can be released online rather than incurring the energy, materials, and cost that it takes to manufacture, print, and ship them across great distances. However these new reading mediums have one glaring fault – can you imaging the frustration of running out of juice mid-sentence and halfway through Infinite Jest?

LG’s new solar e-book aims to address this issue by harnessing the sun’s rays to power its display. The device features a 10 centimeter wide thin-film panel that is .7mm thin – the width of a credit card. Energy efficiency is a strong concern with portable readers, and it looks like LG may have hit on a winning feature set with their e-book – 4-5 hours spent sitting in the sun will provide a full day’s worth of reading time.

Ki Yong Kim, head of the Solar Cell Office at LG Display has stated that “ebooks are attracting a lot of attention because they offer the advantage of storing thousands of books’ worth of contents in an easy-to-carry device. The idea of ebook combined with solar cell will offer users the added benefit of longer usage. We will continue to provide users with enhanced convenience and value to solidify our lead in next-generation, environmentally friendly products.”

Source:  www.alternative-energy-news.info

First algae fuel-powered vehicle in the world was officially launched in San Francisco. The car, called Algaeus is a modified Toyota Prius, which derives power from green crude, from Sapphire Energy. The car runs on an astonishing 150 miles per gallon of green fuel. But they are aspiring to cross the US on approximately 25 gallons of fuel.

According to FUEL producer Rebecca Harrell, “Powering our cars with algae-based fuel could be the next Apollo mission.” Rebecca Harrell is the co-founder of the Veggie Van Organization and producer of the upcoming film FUEL. In the coming 10 days she’ll be accompanying the Fuel director and Veggie Van Organization cofounder Josh Tickell. Together they will take the Algaeus on a countrywide road trip. The duo’s other travel companions will be other green energy vehicles (including the Veggie Van and the biodiesel-powered big green energy bus), “It hit us that we needed to drive the car across the country,” Harrell said. “People think of algae fuel as this long-term, far off thing. But seeing is believing.”

This countrywide tour will serve a dual purpose. People will be aware of the new clean and green fuel and they will give publicity to their forthcoming film FUEL. This film depicts America’s dependency on foreign oil. They claim that their film is different from other environmentally-themed movies. Till now these movies raise a question mark and present us with bleak future. Those movies were usually silent about the answers to environmental hazards. FUEL tries to fill the gap here. They talk about the various methods to make the transition from oil to alternative sources of energy. What’s important for everyday people is information. People don’t say ‘Can you give me something else to be scared about?’ They say, ‘How can I get my car to run on algae fuel?’ Tickell explained. FUEL will be released in New York City, San Francisco, Berkeley, and Washington DC on September 18th.

But you can not fill your tank with algae fuel at your local gas station in the foreseeable future. But the company aims to increase production of algae-based jet fuel this year and plans production of over 2 million liters of algae based diesel fuel per year over the next two years. The car is powered by a mixture of 5% algae fuel and the manufacturers claim that the demonstration car will leave its mark as the environmentally friendly-fuel-driven automobile.

Though, it is early to conclude that we can use algae as transport fuel. We all know that five percent blend of algae doesn’t precisely indicate the initiation of an algae revolution. But as the saying goes, glass if half full too. It states that advancement is being made on the fuel with great potential. This road trip will allow people to witness the progress in action. The main point of the Algaeus is to show the capability of algae to be used in an ordinary engine.

Source:  www.alternative-energy-news.info

There are many ways to generate electricity from biomass using thermo-chemical pathway. These include directly-fired or conventional steam approach, co-firing, pyrolysis and gasification.

1. Direct Fired or Conventional Steam Boiler

Most of the woody biomass-to-energy plants use direct-fired system or conventional steam boiler, whereby biomass feedstock is directly burned to produce steam leading to generation of electricity. In a direct-fired system, biomass is fed from the bottom of the boiler and air is supplied at the base. Hot combustion gases are passed through a heat exchanger in which water is boiled to create steam.

Biomass is dried, sized into smaller pieces and then pelletized or briquetted before firing. Pelletization is a process of reducing the bulk volume of biomass feedstock by mechanical means to improve handling and combustion characteristics of biomass. Wood pellets are normally produced from dry industrial wood waste, as e.g. shavings, sawdust and sander dust. Pelletization results in:

1. Concentration of energy in the biomass feedstock.
2. Easy handling, reduced transportation cost and hassle-free storage.
3. Low-moisture fuel with good burning characteristics.
4. Well-defined, good quality fuel for commercial and domestic use.

The processed biomass is added to a furnace or a boiler to generate heat which is then run through a turbine which drives an electrical generator. The heat generated by the exothermic process of combustion to power the generator can also be used to regulate temperature of the plant and other buildings, making the whole process much more efficient. Cogeneration of heat and electricity provides an economical option, particularly at sawmills or other sites where a source of biomass waste is already available. For example, wood waste is used to produce both electricity and steam at paper mills.

2. Co-firing

Co-firing is the simplest way to use biomass with energy systems based on fossil fuels. Small portions (upto 15%) of woody and herbaceous biomass such as poplar, willow and switch grass can be used as fuel in an existing coal power plant. Like coal, biomass is placed into the boilers and burned in such systems. The only cost associated with upgrading the system is incurred in buying a boiler capable of burning both the fuels, which is a more cost-effective than building a new plant.

The environmental benefits of adding biomass to coal includes decrease in nitrogen and sulphur oxides which are responsible for causing smog, acid rain and ozone pollution. In addition, relatively lower amount of carbon dioxide is released into the atmospheres. Co-firing provides a good platform for transition to more viable and sustainable renewable energy practices.

3. Pyrolysis

Pyrolysis offers a flexible and attractive way of converting solid biomass into an easily stored and transportable fuel, which can be successfully used for the production of heat, power and chemicals. In pyrolysis, biomass is subjected to high temperatures in the absence of oxygen resulting in the production of pyrolysis oil (or bio-oil), char or syngas which can then be used to generate electricity. The process transforms the biomass into high quality fuel without creating ash or energy directly.

Wood residues, forest residues and bagasse are important short term feed materials for pyrolysis being aplenty, low-cost and good energy source. Straw and agro residues are important in the longer term; however straw has high ash content which might cause problems in pyrolysis. Sewage sludge is a significant resource that requires new disposal methods and can be pyrolysed to give liquids.

Pyrolysis oil can offer major advantages over solid biomass and gasification due to the ease of handling, storage and combustion in an existing power station when special start-up procedures are not necessary.

4. Biomass gasification

Gasification processes convert biomass into combustible gases that ideally contain all the energy originally present in the biomass. In practice, conversion efficiencies ranging from 60% to 90% are achieved. Gasification processes can be either direct (using air or oxygen to generate heat through exothermic reactions) or indirect (transferring heat to the reactor from the outside). The gas can be burned to produce industrial or residential heat, to run engines for mechanical or electrical power, or to make synthetic fuels.

Biomass gasifiers are of two kinds - updraft and downdraft. In an updraft unit, biomass is fed in the top of the reactor and air is injected into the bottom of the fuel bed. The efficiency of updraft gasifiers ranges from 80 to 90 per cent on account of efficient counter-current heat exchange between the rising gases and descending solids. However, the tars produced by updraft gasifiers imply that the gas must be cooled before it can be used in internal combustion engines. Thus, in practical operation, updraft units are used for direct heat applications while downdraft ones are employed for operating internal combustion engines.

Large scale applications of gasifiers include comprehensive versions of the small scale updraft and downdraft technologies, and fluidized bed technologies. The superior heat and mass transfer of fluidized beds leads to relatively uniform temperatures throughout the bed, better fuel moisture utilization, and faster rate of reaction, resulting in higher throughput capabilities.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk

When burned, coal is the dirtiest of all fossil fuels but a range of technologies are being used and developed to reduce the environmental impact of coal-fired power stations.

Collectively, they are known as clean coal technology (CCT).

CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE

Despite the improving efficiency of coal-fired power stations, CO2 emissions remain a problem.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) involves capturing the carbon dioxide, preventing the greenhouse gas entering the atmosphere, and storing it deep underground.

OPTIONS FOR CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE 1. CO2 pumped into disused coal fields displaces methane which can be used as fuel 2. CO2 can be pumped into and stored safely in saline aquifers 3. CO2 pumped into oil fields helps maintain pressure, making extraction easier

A range of approaches of CCS have been developed and have proved to be technically feasible. They have yet to be made available on a large-scale commercial basis because of the costs involved.

Coal arriving at a power plant contains mineral content that needs to be removed before it is burnt. A number of processes are available to remove unwanted matter and make the coal burn more efficiently.

Coal washing involves grinding the coal into smaller pieces and passing it through a process called gravity separation.

One technique involves feeding the coal into barrels containing a fluid that has a density which causes the coal to float, while unwanted material sinks and is removed from the fuel mix. The coal is then pulverised and prepared for burning.

Coal gasification plants are favoured by some because they are flexible and have high levels of efficiency. The gas can be used to power electricity generators, or it can be used elsewhere, i.e. in transportation or the chemical industry.

INTEGRATED COAL GASIFICATION COMBINED CYCLE PLANT 1. Coal burnt to produce syngas 2. Syngas burnt in combustor 3. Hot gas drives gas turbines 4. Cooling gas heats water 5. Steam drives steam turbines

In Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) systems, coal is not combusted directly but reacts with oxygen and steam to form a “syngas” (primarily hydrogen). After being cleaned, it is burned in a gas turbine to generate electricity and to produce steam to power a steam turbine.

Coal gasification plants are seen as a primary component of a zero-emissions system. However, the technology remains unproven on a widespread commercial scale.

Burning coal produces a range of pollutants that harm the environment: Sulphur dioxide (acid rain); nitrogen oxides (ground-level ozone) and particulates (affects people’s respiratory systems).

There are a number of options to reduce these emissions:

Sulphur dioxide (SO2)
Flue gas desulphursation (FGD) systems are used to remove sulphur dioxide. “Wet scrubbers” are the most widespread method and can be up to 99% effective.

A mixture of limestone and water is sprayed over the flue gas and this mixture reacts with the SO2 to form gypsum (a calcium sulphate), which is removed and used in the construction industry.

Nitrogen oxides (NOx)
NOx reduction methods include the use of “low NOx burners”. These specially designed burners restrict the amount of oxygen available in the hottest part of the combustion chamber where the coal is burned. This minimises the formation of the gas and requires less post-combustion treatment.

Particulates emissions

Electrostatic precipitators can remove more than 99% of particulates from the flue gas. The system works by creating an electrical field to create a charge on particles which are then attracted by collection plates. Other removal methods include fabric filters and wet particulate scrubbers.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com

MIAMI (AFP) – Driven by fluctuations in oil prices, and seduced by the prospect of easing climate change, experts are ramping up efforts to squeeze fuel out of a promising new organism: pond scum.

As it turns out, algae — slimy, fast-growing and full of fat — is gaining ground as a potential renewable energy source.

Experts say it is intriguing for its ability to gobble up carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, while living happily in places that aren’t needed for food crops.

Algae likes mosquito-infested swamps, for example, filthy pools, and even waste water. And while no one has found a way to mass produce cheap fuel from algae yet, the race is on.

University labs and start-up companies across the country are getting involved. Over the summer, the first mega-corporation joined in, when ExxonMobil said it would sink 600 million dollars into algae research in a partnership with a California biotechnology company.

If the research pans out, scientists say they will eventually find a cost-effective way to convert lipids from algae ponds into fuel, then pump it into cars, trucks and jets.

“I think it’s very realistic. I don’t think it’s going to take 20 years. It’s going to take a few years,” said chemical engineer George Philippidis, director of applied research at Florida International University in Miami.

One of the factors fueling enthusiasm is algae’s big appetite for carbon dioxide — a by-product of burning fossil fuels.

“We could hook up to the exhaust of polluting industries,” Philippidis said. “We could capture it and feed it to algae and prevent that CO2 from contributing to further climate change.”

California company Sapphire Energy has already fueled a cross-country road trip with algae-tinged gasoline.

The trip, meant to raise awareness, prompted the headline, “Coast to Coast on Slime”. Another California company is looking at fattening fish on algae and then processing the fish for oil.

“Where algae is very nice is, it’s prolific. It’s everywhere… and you don’t have to do much. Mother Nature has kind of figured it out,” said Roy Swiger, a molecular geneticist and director of the Florida division of the non-profit Midwest Research Institute.

MRI began studying algae as an energy source three years ago. Swiger warned that algal fuels are not ready for prime time yet. Even though algae grows like gangbusters, it currently costs up to 100 dollars to make a gallon of algal fuel– hardly a savings.

The rub is bringing cost down, and production up. To do this, scientists must find cheap ways to dry algae and extract the lipids, where energy is stored.

Swiger noted that it would not make sense to spend five dollars of electricity to run a centrifuge to dry out algae, that in turn would only produce one dollar of fuel.

If research goes well, Swiger thinks it will take five years to bring down production costs to 40 dollars per gallon.

But taking even a tiny chunk out of the energy market — ethanol has eked out a 4.0 percent share, for example — can shift the energy mix.

“Four percent is not a lot, and yet everywhere you look there’s a pump,” Swiger said. “So four percent of a gigantic number is a lot.”

Some start-ups are more optimistic. Paul Woods, chief executive of Florida-based Algenol Biofuels, says his company will beat others to market.

He has patented a technology for “sweating” ethanol from algae, without drying it first.

“We see ourselves as a very cheap way to supplement (energy supply),” said Woods, “and the more cheap ethanol we have, the more we’re winning in efforts to have independence from foreign fuel.”

Woods announced a partnership with Dow Chemical in July to build a demonstration plant, and expects to launch commercial production by 2011.

Experts don’t see algal fuel replacing fossil fuels completely, and some have become leery of hype.

The idea of harnessing algae for fuel has been around for decades, they say. Still, no one has been able to make it financially feasible.

“Any fantastic claims will eventually discredit the field if given much credence,” said algae expert John Benemann.

Instead, he sees algae as a good source for animal feeds, chemicals and fertilizer.

Back at FIU, Philippidis agreed “there is no silver bullet” to reduce dependency on fossil fuels.

But he saw promise on the horizon, especially as larger companies become involved in algae research. “We are still at an early stage… but as we scale up (production) I think costs will come down very, very quickly,” he said.

And if that works, he added, “there is a small Greek island I would like to buy.”