Comments on: The math on turning algae into fuel

100 acres of algae can suck up most of the CO2 from a 100 megawatt power plant. And animals can eat the end product.

[dscottbuch]

How can you trust this article

Quote -

A hectare pond filled with algae can produce 15,000 to 80,000
liters of vegetable oil a year. Only about 6,000 liters of palm oil
can be squeezed out of an acre a year. Corn is only good for 120
acres of oil a year.

- end quote

A hectare is 100 acres so according to this quote 100 acres of
palm oil would produce 600,000 liters of palm oil vs 'only'
80,000 max from alge???? So why use alge. Then the
comparison to core is nonsensical!!!!

What happened to editors in journalism???????

[Sparky672]

You can't trust it.

There's no critical thinking anymore at C/Net.

You caught the problem but your numbers are off. I agree with
your point which is still totally valid.

One hectare = 2.47 acres = 10,000 sq meters = 0.01 sq
kilometers.

[Sparky672]

This was corrected?!

C/Net tried to correct this...

[b]Quoting:[/b] [i]"... A hectare pond filled with algae can
produce 15,000 to 80,000 liters of vegetable oil a year. Only
about 6,000 liters of palm oil can be squeezed out of a hectare a
year. [u]Corn is only good for 120 hectares of oil[/u] a year,
Espiga said. ..." [/i]

Ok, so C/Net just changed it from [i]"120 acres of oil"[/i] to
[i]"120 hectares of oil"[/i].

Do they realize acres and hectares are only used to measure [b]
area[/b]? Liquids like oil are generally measured by [b]volume[/
b].... gallons, liters, barrels, etc.

So tell me C/Net, just what is [i]"120 hectares of oil"[/i]
supposed to mean?

[billmosby]

Come again?

The quote was "corn is only good for 120 hectares a year". Quite
useless, but not as wrong as your figure of 100 acres to the
hectare.

If you google "hectare acre conversion", you get, among others,
http://www.metric-conversions.org/, which gives 2.471 acres
per hectare.

But even that is beside the point, since all his production figures
were for hectare units. He did quote actual production sites in
acres, though.

A cursory search on the web seems to show a corn ethanol
production rate of around 300 gallons per acre, or about 740
gallons per hectare, or roughly 3000 liters per hectare.

So from the article we have one hectare per year producing from
algae,
15000 to 80000 liters of veg oil, plus about 10000 liters of
ethanol, plus the glycerin.

From palm, 6000 liters of oil.

From corn, according to random web sources, 3000 liters of
ethanol.

Algae sounds a lot better to me. Of course, one must ask if the
"optimized species" have been found or bred yet, and field
tested.

[Sparky672]

Check your math C/Net...

[b]Quoting[/b] [i]"... A hectare pond filled with algae can
produce 15,000 to 80,000 liters of vegetable oil a year. Only
about 6,000 liters of palm oil can be squeezed out of an acre a
year. ..."[/i]

Hello, C/Net?? Hectares and Acres are two different sizes!!

1 hectare = 2.47105381 acres

So 6,000 liters [b]per acre[/b] equals 14,826 liters [b]per hectare
[/b].

Now compare that palm oil to algae again.

[michael_schmitz]

Corn is only good for 120 acres of oil a year.

Is that "An acre of corn is only good for 120 liters of oil a year?"

[Sparky672]

LOL

The C/Net technology editor must be on vacation.

Heck, what do I know, I'm living on 30,000 liters of land per
minute.

[IrishBrewer]

C'mon guys, get with it!

This is the new math - not the old math you grew up learning.

Someone has found a new way to apply math without the pesky need to use consistent or logical units.

One of the main benefits of this new system is that it makes it quite easy to prove just about anything with no more than three simple calculations.

[Sparky672]

Soylent Green is People!!!

[b]Quoting:[/b] [i]"... It can be turned into alcohol for ethanol,
biomass that can be burned in a furnace, or animal feed (which
can also be sold under the [u]Soylent Green brand name[/u] in
grocery stores). ... "[/i]

***?! Is this story for real?

What reputable company is going to name their brand after a
movie about a futuristic foodstuff made from dead people?

Thanks for the laughs, C/Net!!

[maddoghall]

Does Algae grow in the winter?

I will assume that the algae does not grow well in the winter if the pond is frozen and covered with snow. It might grow if the Algae ponds were heated and kept free of ice.

I wonder how many of those power plants are built in places that do not get cold enough to freeze?

[buffalojpb]

Check your reading comprehension

This article is from 'news.blog' not cnet.

some folks blaming Cnet for crappy editing need to look in the mirror before they start casting stones at an innocent party.

Jeesh, the reading comprehension of some folks on this thread has declined to retard levels.

[Sparky672]

news.blog = C/Net

[b]Quoting:[/b] [i]"Jeesh, the [u]reading comprehension[/u] of
some folks on this thread has declined to retard levels."[/i]

You're hilarious! Thanks for the comedy!

This [u]entire[/u] site is run by C/Net including news.blog

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Then maybe you also missed the C/Net copyright notice at the
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