Is Algae the Answer to our Dependence on Foreign Oil?

Millions of years ago, crude oil was formed. It was made by algae, and somehow then buried deep within the earth. These algae are still capable of producing oil. While it's easy to produce an algae biodiesel, a California company has recently been the first to be successful at refining this algal "green crude" into a high-octane gasoline chemically identical to conventional fuels, and capable of being used in any car made today with no engine modification.

The project was stopped in 1996, when crude oil prices dropped, but has recently been revived. Investors are writing huge checks. Many see algae fields developing into the oil fields of the future.

Why is algae farming so exciting? First, it doesn't use valuable farm land, leaving it available f

Now that it's been proven that not only can biodiesel be made from algae, but also high-octane gasoline, it remains to be proven that the fuel could be produced in massive quantities in a sustainable fashion. The company says that within 5 years, it will be able to produce 10,000 barrels of green crude a day. That is only a drop in the bucket to our daily 20 million barrel crude oil consumption, but every drop counts.

or food production. This would reduce our dependence on foreign food imports. Second, algae farming can be done on non-arable land with non-potable water. Land that has never been able to be used for anything can now be used to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

While the most productive biofuel crop, oil palm, only produces 6,000 litres per hectare of land, estimates are that

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