Three billion years ago single celled plants used
sunlight and CO2 to make molecules in which much of the energy was stored that we use today. The first
algae cells were very much like today's
algae and are still the most efficient
converters of
sunlight to
stored energy. Simple equipment and materials in air and earth are all we need to make a liquid,
gasoline-replacing fuel with aqueous culturing and fermenting tanks. One such facility, 14 miles square, on land or floating in a bay could make enough
butanol to supply the
motor fuel we need. But, it is better to divide production into several thousand Fuel Farms™” to reduce transportation and increase national security.The prototype small business fuel farm uses two acres of land for growing trays,
fermentation and storage tanks. A box
canyon of land not suitable for
agriculture or residential use, hence cheap, but with a a well producing six gallons of water per minute of any quality is all we need.
Sewage district
effluent with nitrogenous wastes is ideal. Commonly occurring biological entities are the active producers of all the liquid energy we need. Fuel Farms™ can be attractive, safe facilities owned by small entrepreneurs making a fuel free market.
Algae and
bacteria cultures are available, but better found locally to emploit
adaptation and the “
diversity effect.” Nonetheless, we should further refine the cultures in a continuing program.Every generation of
algae and
bacteria makes new variations better able to deal with conditions and make more of what we want. Isolating superior strains is a simple, but never-ending process that is part of the Fuel Farm™
system. As well, the end-product is a wet mixture that cannot be recycled for algae culture as included
butanol is poisonous to simple, green plants. This product may find other uses before we have to deal with it as garbage. It may be used to treat wood, protecting it from
algae growth. It could be useful in clearing algae bound lakes, a problem yet unsolved.