A SALUTE TO INGENUITY

Perspective for your consideration …
What does it look like when it’s fixed…?

Algae ponds in Gila Bend may help solve oil problem … By Dan Sullivan… ARIZONA DAILY STAR …GILA BEND — excerpted - In dozens of simple ponds in Gila Bend, something is happening that could help ease the nation's dependency on foreign oil. … The project is not controlled by an army of scientists or funded with millions of dollars worth of government research grants — it's a desert shrimp farm that is changing with the times to produce biodiesel from algae, using some of the same algae that feed the shrimp. "Shrimp farmers don't raise shrimp, they raise algae," said Gary Wood, owner of Desert Sweet Shrimp, which is transitioning to a new name, Desert Sweet Biofuels, with its new focus. …. The 50 ponds don't look impressive now — more like craters filled with murky water. But Wood said soon they will look like bubbling pools of split pea soup teeming with algae soon to be transformed into fuel. … "I've heard a lot of people saying 'drill baby drill' when they should be saying 'grow baby grow,' " Wood said. "We're going to grow our way out of this." …. He said his farm has the potential to produce 5,000 gallons of biofuel per acre in two years, and he expects the first gallons of biofuel to be ready in three to four months…. Algae is transformed into biofuels by pressing the oil out of the algae and then adding lye, sodium and ethanol as a catalyst to make the fuel more pure. The lye, sodium and ethanol can be reused. … Desert Sweet has done research trying to find the best strain of algae, and plans to test cultured and indigenous strains of algae. Wood said the company will look for the best strain until it finds "the one that will be a magic bullet." … Biofuels made from algae have an advantage over biofuels made from soybeans, palm oil or corn because algae is not a source of food, growing algae does not use agriculturally fertile land and algae can be grown in treated wastewater, said Joel Cuello, a professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering the University of Arizona. … Cuello said biofuels from algae need to be mass-produced to make them economically feasible. …

Utilizing essentially poor agriculture land, wastewater sewage effluent to produce a product developed from recycled ingredients causes me to rise to salute this one man’s choice to try something outside the “norm” and which I would venture to say is as much a labor of love as it is a commitment to assisting to find viable solutions to our fossil fuel dilemma.

I wish him god’s speed and extend to him my best wishes in his endeavor.

At one time – he – honestly represented that adventurous, inquisitive and challenging nature of America, welcome back …. ?



… People should never be afraid of their government, government should always be afraid of the people …