An algae biofuel production system.
No, you can’t simply pump the green scum that forms on your swimming pool into your gas tank, but motorists in the San Francisco area now can fill up on a new biofuel derived from algae.
There are plenty of proponents searching for ways to replace petroleum with renewable fuels, though some alternatives, such as corn-based ethanol, have come under fire, especially in the wake of last summer’s nationwide drought. But the biofuel system developed by South San Francisco-based Solazyme, Inc. won’t tap the food supply.
The Last Word!
“We are putting a stake in the ground,” said Matt Horton, chief executive officer of Propel Fuels, which is supplying the fuel to four stations near San Francisco and which would like to expand distribution to “hundreds of stations like this in California.”
