Behold the First National Algal Biofuel Testbed

We need biofuels, and we need them #asap. Because peak oil is here; Even if it’s not technically “peak oil,” oil is getting scarcer and harder to extract and more expensive and yet our global economy still pretty much depends on the black stuff to keep it lubed up and running ok.

So: electrification. Electric cars. Fewer cars. More rail. Fewer planes. These are the strides toward a post-oil economy.

And don’t forget biofuels, which can keep those old oil-burners running without actually, you know, burning oil. But biofuels won’t work if they’re made from corn ethanol. Diverting edible crops into fuel puts “pressure on the food supply” and sucks down a grip of water and resources in the process. No, let’s go with biofuels that don’t edge out food for fuel. Let’s go algae.

And so the federal government, in partnership with Arizona State University, sounded pleased to announce the unveiling of the “First Ever National Algal Biofuel Testbed”. With $15 million in cash from the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Labs program, the FENABT, or APT^3 as it’s called in the press release, will now seek to

“address a major gap currently hindering the scale-up of algal biofuels," said Blake Simmons, the biomass program manager for Sandia. "This partnership will provide validated data on algal growth and biofuel production across multiple sites in the USA, and will provide essential data related to the scale-up and commercialization of algal biofuels."

Algal biofuel remains an exciting prospect, though it has remained an exciting prospect for a fair amount of time now. It’s still expensive to produce and it’s finicky, but still so alluring—let us grow algae by the vat-full and use it to power our cars. It grows everywhere, but how do we make it grow for us, when we need, and in a conveniently hydrocarbon-rich form?

These are the questions that APT^3 hopes to answer, along with a handful of other algal biolabs scattered across the nation. One such lab will seek to grow an algal oil-clone out of wastewater, and produce the stuff commercially in four years. But the first National Algal Biofuel Testbed will seek predominantly to find ways that make producing algae for fuel an economical prospect.

Strides are expected in the industry, and we need to keep the funds flowing—the scientists who believe that we can power 95% of the world with renewable energy are counting on it. And if you like to travel in airplanes or drive nonelectric cars, you should be too.