From ThatHappened:

A plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, California, has been using human fat to fuel his cars. According to the surgeon, Dr. Craig Alan Bittner, he used fat liposuctioned from his patients at his Beverly Hills practice. He claims that the patients encouraged him to use their unwanted fat, but this has not been confirmed. Nor has it softened the opinion of California health officials.

Unfortunately for Doc Bittner, it’s illegal in California to use human waste for fuel. Seeing as he also had some lawsuit issues concerning his girlfriend being allowed to perform surgeries without a license, he has decided hightailed it to South America.

I also am intrigued by the fact that California already had a law against this. Does this mean that there have already been, um, “issues” with tossing body parts into the gas tank, or were the state legislators actually that foresighted?

I mean, come on…I believe in saving the girth–I mean, earth– as much as the next leftie. However, I’m not even going to do a ” The American Response ” paragraph because the actual story is already creepy enough.

Tags: Alternative Energy, biofuels, energy, medical, Science of the Weird

Here’s an interesting tidbit from Biodiesel Magazine:

The U.S. DOE’s Ames Laboratory, operated by Iowa State University, is researching nanoscale particles to harvest triglycerides, neutral lipids and fatty acids from microalgae for biodiesel production. A recently completed research project used silica nanoscale particles to penetrate plant cells and inject chemicals into the cells. The new research project will use these particles to extract oil from the algae cells without killing the cells. Ames Laboratory received $885,000 from the DOE to carry out this research. “It’s basically nanofarming,” said Kerry Gibson, a media relations staff member of the lab.

Considering how rapidly algae can reproduce and grow, is this entirely necessary? Once algae has grown for about 30 days, then regular, non-nano harvesting can occur daily. I’m still searching for concrete information on the length of time it takes for an alga to replenish its pocket of lipids. If it happens in a couple of hours, then nanoharvesting would make sense, and it could reap a much more bountiful harvest than regular harvesting methods.

In essence, the McCormicks and Whitneys at the Department of Energy are building tiny little combines and tiny little gins and tiny little disk harrows to harvest fat out of tiny little plants. If you look *real* close, you can see “Erin” in cursive painted on the combine door.

Now imagine, if you will…

If the nanoharvesters escape into the wild, what happens? What if they get into the ecosystem, or if they get into the human body? At first glance, it looks like an amazing fat-burning weight loss plan, but what if they don’t stop at the extra Thanksgiving pounds, and continue harvesting every bit of fats and triglycerides–like the lipid layer in the myelin sheath around neurons? OOoops…  “Hey honey! The doctor says my cholesterol is down to zero! I wish my brain still worked, though…”

I’m sure that the nanomechanics will state in a huffy tone that they will engineer the nanoharvesters to only go after specific algae cells. However, knowing how prone humans are to shortcuts, especially when profit is involved, I think it’s entirely reasonable to expect them to shortcut on nanoharvester safeguards. “Gee, we can save money and increase profits if we keep the harvesting targets generalized. Don’t worry, though; they’ll never escape.

“Trust us, we’re government scientists.”

Tags: algae, Alternative Energy, biofuels, nanotechnology, Science

Here’s a short little marketing video by Solazyme, Inc.,  touting their process for coaxing biodiesel out of algae.  I mention this because the guy eats biodiesel at 2:15 into the vid. He then comments that it “tastes like peanut oil.”    Mmm yes, with a fragrant, buttery bouquet of filet-o-fish, undercurrent of county fair corndog, and the lingering, smoky finish of Hawaiian Tropic at a topless beach.

To be honest, I don’t know what it entails to become a fatty fluid connoisseur. I suppose that sticking your nose in a swirling snifter of Crisco is a start. At least with this stuff, if you break down in the wilderness, you can siphon off some fuel for a tasty snack.

Tags: algae, biofuels, Science

From MLive.com:  Now that wastewater have gotten cleaner, Muskegon County, Michigan, has a problem: the wastewater system has gone green–and not in the fuzzy, feel-good way.

You see, they used to have a paper mill that dumped huge volumes of dark brown wastewater into the county’s wastewater treatment lagoons. Now that the mill has closed, the water in the lagoons has gotten much clearer. This allows more sunlight to penetrate the water, which has cause a massive algae bloom.  The treated water is used on croplands, but the increased algae in the water has clogged up the soils, causing mini-swamps to form in once-productive farmlands.  The built-up algae in the ponds also dies and rots, creating a significant odor problem.

Local restaurants cart their grease to the wastewater lagoons, which adds to the problem. Enter Western Michigan University. WMU has teamed up with Muskegon County to determine the feasibility of harvesting the algae for energy use and converting the restaurant grease to fuel. The county already harvests methane from their landfill and sells it to local industry, so the concept of dipping into the waste stream to harvest energy is an easy topic to broach to the county.

We need more forward-thinking public officials like the administrators in Muskegon County. It would be simple enough to skim up the algae and send it to the landfill. By partnering with academics and entrepreneurs, they are solving a common problem with an intriguing solution and maybe even generating some future revenue as well.

So, what about Douglas County, Nevada? What exciting things are we doing here in the hamlet of Gardnerville?  Considering the Gardnerville city council has forbidden recycling companies from operating here, considering that there are no bike lanes or bike trails, considering that dogs are forbidden in every single park, considering that the sewage treatment plant smells like last year’s egg salad, considering that Bentley Biofuels is just up the road outside of Minden, Gardnerville is not doing much.  Well, we did have a renewable energy fair last month, but a presence from the town of Gardnerville was conspicuously absent. I would have thought that Gardnerville/Minden/Douglas County would be eager to take a lead in alternative energy.

Tags: algae, biofuels, Douglas County, environment, Gardnerville

From the CBC: The Toronto Zoo is hoping to use feces from 5,000 animals to create biogas fuel to power a generator. Although the city is unwilling to put monkey –I mean, money– into the project, the zoo hopes that private financing will materialize. The zoo predicts that the energy generated from the project will not only power the zoo but produce a surplus that can be sold back into the grid.

There is precedent to the project. Some clever dairy farmers are already producing fuel from the tons of manure produced by their livestock.

Now, all we need to do is harness the energy expended by bloggers and reporters coming up with cleverly-worded headlines.

The American Response
Meanwhile,  Suzie Jonston of Salina, Oklahoma, is left pondering if she can harness the energy released by her good-for-nothing husband, Cody. “He Dutch Ovens me five or six times ever’ night. It’s disgustin’. Maybe I can just chuck him into a lawn-n-leaf bag and hitch it up to the grill. That way he’d finally be gettin’ off his butt and doin’ some work roun’ here.”

Tags: biofuels, energy, Science

From the University of Washington and the Nature Conservancy, here is a chart detailing all the dirty little details about biofuels that accompanied an insightful biofuels article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Corn? Fuggedaboudit. Algae? Wave of the future, baby!

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com

The more I read about the algae, the more I like the concept. Save the Ethanol for drinkin’.

Click the image to read the associated story at SeattlePI.

Tags: algae, biofuels, energy, environment

The Boulder-based Solix Biofuels company is planning a 10 acre farm in Durango, CO, to produce biodiesel via algae. Although their website is all hat and no cattle, the $15 million project has an impressive list of backers: Valero, Infield Capital, and the Southern Ute Indian Tribe. It promises 3,000 gallons per year from the plant, which will be constructed on the Southern Ute reservation.

From what I can find, Solix Biofuels started as an academic scientific venture that is now branching out in a reach for commercial viability. According to the Denver Business Journal, the pondscum field is starting to get pretty crowded, along with the addition of Chevron and NREL as big players. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: algae, biofuels, energy, environment, Science