An Algae Bioreactor from Recycled Water Bottles

Michael Fischer Stanford University mfischer at stanford.edu Two major problems facing the physical world today can be broadly categorized into (1) how to increase the amount of consumable energy available for the worlds needs and (2) how to decrease the amount of greenhouse gases produced. Of course, these problems are negatively linked together inasmuch as, without further offsets, an increase in the production of carbon fuels leads to an increase in the amount of greenhouse gases produced when these fuels are consumed. In this video we shall look at a method that breaks this negative link by considering a project that increases the worlds supply of oil using biofuels and which at the same time decreases the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide used during its production. The resulting product is a sustainable biofuel whose carbon footprint is neutral inasmuch as the CO2 produced on consumption is essentially balanced by the CO2 used in its production.