Algae 101 Part 22—Can Algae Serve 100 Million Environmental Refugees?
Millions of environmental refugees will migrate from the food sparse south to north by 2020, fleeing food shortages sparked by climate change. The UN projects 50 million…
Algae 101 Part 21—Job Creation in the Algae Industry
Political, social and business leaders agree on relatively little but they are aligned in promoting job creation. President Obama holds high profile meetings with industry leaders such as…
Algae 101 Part 20—India’s Hard Lessons from GE Crops
Algae producers considering GE crops might learn from India’s lessons. India will overtake China as the largest population within the next decade and may have trouble supplying sufficient good food…
Algae 101 Part 19—Your Algae Library
One of the most important questions people ask about the algae industry is “What are the books that I should read?” Unfortunately, algae enthusiasts not trained in science cannot understand the dense science…
Algae 101 Part 18—Abundant Agriculture
Food and energy security play havoc with environmental policies, economics and society. Too many countries, including the U.S., enact comprehensive anti-pollution policies and…
Abundance Food
Industrial agriculture produces fossil foods that break the nutrient cycle and force farmers to apply a new set of chemical fertilizers each year. The break wastes roughly half of the expensive fossil nutrients applied…
Lessons from 13 Years with GE Seeds
Genetically engineered seeds have a brief but rocky history. GE seeds are heritage, traditional varieties, which have had their genetic material altered using GE techniques. Recombinant DNA…
Benefits of GE Guidelines for the Algae Industry
Algae are an agricultural product and algae producers should consider the Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) guidelines developed in Europe and Asia as well as the US guidelines for genetic…
Why Might Algae Resolve Public Health Challenges?
Today the four most prevalent deficiency diseases globally in public health are: malnutrition, nutritional anemia (iron and B12 deficiency), xerophthalmia (vitamin A deficiency) and endemic goiter…
Algae Industry Growth and Future Directions
Predicting the future of the algae industry provides intrigue and excitement. One way to anticipate industry directions occurs from interviewing experts who know the pulse for our industry such as Mary Rosenthal…
Algae 101 Part 13: Why is algae the most efficient way to capture solar energy for food and energy production?
Our modern societies face substantial sustainability challenges to food and energy supplies. Our future…
Algae 101 Part Twelve: Lessons from Moscow, Mexico and China
While news of the heat in Russia and fierce wild fires around Moscow dominate the news, two significant new reports have been published on Mexican and Chinese oil production that is declining…
Algae 101 Part Eleven: Did Algae Make Us Human?
Algae saved our planet 3.5 billion years ago by transforming the hot and deadly CO2 and methane atmosphere to enough oxygen to support life. Only 2 million years ago, algae may have performed…
Algae 101 Part 10: Minimizing Algal Cultivation Input Costs
The 2009 ABO Algal Industry Survey provided valuable insight about our emerging algal industry. The 222 respondents, about half of whom were scientists, were positive about the industry’s future and optimistic…
Algae 101 Part Nine: Algal Cultivation
Algae grow in open, closed or semi-closed systems in round, long or tubular tanks that maximize access of the entire biomass to sunlight. Growth occurs only in the top layer, about two inches, of the growing medium unless mixing occurs…
Algae 101 Part Eight: Algae Action—The Second Wave
The first wave of algal activity followed the OPEQ oil embargo that generated considerable R&D working towards energy independence. That first wave culminated in the birth of the Department of…
Algae 101 Part Seven: Algal Species Selection
Algae producers select specific algae strains for valuable compounds grown in the algal biomass. Algal biomass includes primarily lipids, used to produce biofuel, proteins for food, feed and nutraceuticals…
Algae 101 Part Six: Algal Classification
Algae are living plants that break the rules for plant classification because they evolved in many different forms—cells, multicellular plants, bacteria and in nearly infinite combinations. While the various species…
Algae 101 Part Five: Why Have Algae Remained Largely Undiscovered?
Algae remain the most undiscovered and underdeveloped organism on Earth. A common algae question is: If algae have so much potential, why has less than 1% of its potential been realized?
Algae 101 Part Four: What are Algae’s Competitive Advantages?
Nano-sized, single-celled algae are among Earth’s earliest life forms. They have been surviving in many of Earth’s harshest environments for 3.7 billion years. Algae’s simplicity enables these plants to…
