Serious My Sustainergy4 Entry

as some of you know I got accepted into the Sustainergy4 competition. it seemed like a lot of you were interested in what I did so here is my short essay.


Using the oceans untapped surface area for creating algae bio fuel farms to sustain the world’s need for energy

My idea is using the ocean’s surface area to create a series of off shore algae growing farms to produce a steady output of bio-fuel that could be used as an alternative fuel source to be used in power plants to satisfy the world’s need for energy.

The farms will need to be built out of two main facilities, the first one will be the algae growing grounds, the name is a little misleading as the farms are floating off shore and aren’t really on the ground. The algae will be cultivated in an hydroponics system that will plant the algae on a net-like planting ground stacked upon each other, each time the algae has grown to its full potential the top seeding-net will be raised and the algae will be harvested before re-planting the algae on the bottom net and raising all the nets upwards by one level (this will allow for a continuous output of algae)

The second facility will be the bio fuel creation facility, which will have to include a high temperature and pressure chamber to allow the algae to undergo hydrothermal liquefaction to create aviation fuel, gasoline, diesel and fuel gas. The secondary outputs are water and nutrients that can be either spread back over the growing algae as a fertilizer or sold back on the mainland as fertilizer and food supplements.

The other possibility is replacing the second facility in an on shore drying facility where the algae will be dried in the open air and then mixed with a solvent to extract energy rich compounds from them. The extracted compounds can then be turned into fuel via various industrial procedures.

Currently there are some problems that might stop this project

1. Lack of funds (which the writing instructions said are unlimited)
2. Political opposition against investment in said project (although by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982 (UNCLOS) the off shore farms will be in a country’s territorial waters which means the country has full authority over those waters).
3. Activist right groups may start forming against creating these off shore farms with the claim that it will pollute the ocean or “un-natural” (in practice, the algae will actually clean the oceans from pollution).
4. Opposition from current petroleum and gas mining companies, which will go bankrupt if this project, will fulfill its true potential. (although some of the companies may fund this and use the project to change their image to a “green power” organization)
5. The algae species might have to go some genetic engineering to raise biofuel output and efficiency of the farms and it will take time to find the optimum algae specie.

This idea will have some effects on the world:

1. The algae farms will slowly clean the oceans from toxins and pollution by breaking them down and using them in their own metabolism and return it to its natural pre-industrial age stage and allow marine fauna and flora to flourish again. By seeding the algae in layers of net like growing grounds we can increase the filtering ability of the farms and maximize their efficiency.
   
2. This project will only be available to countries that have access to the ocean (making this in lakes might tip the balance of the lake’s ecosystem and create an ecological disaster), because only countries with an access to the ocean could use this, they will not be power dependent anymore and will receive sustainable energy.
   
3. Because countries with no access to the sea won’t be able to use these farms (I’m not sure what is the United Nations stand on private agriculture in unclaimed seas) it will give countries with access to the sea a political and economic control over the sea-less countries, which might result in increase in debt to the seashore countries and might lead to revolutions and wars between countries over the smallest pieces of shore.
   
4. Making these farms and manning them will require immense manpower (hopefully it will be enough to employ all of the workers from the petroleum and natural gas mining companies) which will create a new market with new economical possibilities.
   
5. By creating these off shore farms, we can start a wave of ocean pioneering, starting the race for self-sustainable floating cities and giant railways that will bridge the continents (over seas of course).

If you have any questions about me or my essay I'll be more than happy to answer them!

 

So, in theory, it could both economically and materially sustain itself? Will it be man powered, machine powered, or both?

 

Let's see how will this turn out. I wish you good luck!

 

I will need to check if it actually produces enough energy to be profitable and self sustaining.
at the start it will be man powered for some testing phases, even if it will get fully automated it will need some human intervention at some points and even just for supervising the entire process.

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well my essay passed and I passed the English phone interview so I just need to pick my project now.

 

Still! I wish you good luck it any issue happen!

 

Great, I would love to see an actual farm being built in the future! If it could sustain itself, it could be a major revelation in future bio-fuel production!

 

Aye nice Yuno

 

Thank you ~^-^~

 

My things with this are, shits gonna eat the algae whats your plan for that, trading ships having to replot courses and probably just not doing it messing up the farms, no country is going to want to be on another countries power, nor will the parent country want to share. Also the ocean is considered common heritage of man so no country owns it aside from the water close to their border

 

the same solution algae farms use, big ass nets.

isn't that big of a deal, you know how ships avoid a collision? they both turn right. the ocean is empty the new courses wont be that much of a problem.

I don't think I mentioned it but the farms are just big platforms floating in the sea.

that's already happening in Europe and south America

that already happens in Europe and south America, it isn't exactly sharing, its selling.

according to UNCLOS 1982 the farms can be built in the countrie's territory and stay in its waters.
I couldn't figure out if he farms can be made in international waters but couldn't find anything about agriculture so far into the sea.
also it can be a UN thing and the power can be distributed as needed across the countries.

 

Is this 100@% your idea?

 

final question, what makes yours better than say hydroelectric or windmills, or even nuclear power.

 

making bio fuel from algae and other kind of bio mass is already being done
growing algae for water filterisation is also being done with the algae sometimes being used as bio fuel
building big farms in the middle of the sea to grow algae specifically for bio fuel creation is a thing I came up with (I did some research and couldn't find anyone else who even thought of it)

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it cleans the water and decreases nitrogen levels in the air while using it in other compounds that we can actually digest and use in our own body.
hydroelectric power requires (usually) a dam to be built which takes up a lot of space and floods up an even bigger space thus destroying the ecosystem there and forcing people to move (hydro electric dams actually drain their water out every once in a while to prevent an eco disaster I think the hoover dam did that recently)
windmills are a great choice for sustainable energy and have only two downsides I know of, first is that the giant wings hit and kill birds at flight and second is that the really low vibrations called infra sound cause hearing damage as well as mental damage to humans and animals nearby to the giant turbines, babies are more sensitive to infra sound and towns near wind turbines reported having an increased number of people suffering from hearing loss and balance problems since the turbines were erected.
nuclear power is kinda eco friendly if it weren't for two things the radiation the process emits is really dangerous but luckily can be disposed of relatively safely, the other problem is if things go wrong and you find yourself with another Chernobyl incident which should be cleaned up by 2065 (79 years), Chernobyl is the worst that can happen, it was one of the only two stage 7 disasters 9 by the INES) the other one being the Japanese nuclear incident a couple of years ago.
also because I am the creator I am having a hard time thinking of negatives to this idea so please do ask and point out anything that comes to your mind.

 

I tried really hard an could t think of any cons to this idea, other than the ones already mentioned. I have to applaud, Yuno, just remember me if you get rich and famous ;)

 

We kinda need at least SOME Nitrogen in the air. Breathing pure or even air made up of like fifty percent oxygen is actually kind of bad for your health.

 

It's natural and already happenes in all plants. And as the rain forests get chopped down we need more nitrogen to get assimilated into compounds we can use. Also they will produce oxygen and use up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

 

Yeah, but introduce too much algae and we die of oxygen poisoning. It's a very delicate balance.

 

Optimal breathing range for humans is between 19.5% - 23.5%. currently we have 20.9% oxygen in the air.

depends on the oxygen percentage you have in the air youll get different effects, going above the 23.5% can be negated by eating more vitamin C which acts as an anti oxidant.
also we can just stop working the farms if levels get too high.

 

Bumping for a better world

 

10/10 fish will die
I did something like this. I wrote about bikes which can be modified to power houses.