Carbon Neutral – What Does It Mean?

admin — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 22:06:51 +0000

Recently, there have been a lot of environmental buzzwords floating around. It can be difficult to find a clear definition. I’ll explain what the term “carbon neutral” means, and why it’s important.

You might think that carbon neutral simply means that something does not release any carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This is true to an extent, however it is too simple a definition. It is possible to release CO2 into the atmosphere and still be carbon neutral, so long it is balanced by a CO2 reduction elsewhere.

Biofuels are carbon neutral, even though burning them releases CO2. How can this be? Well, the carbon in the biofuel comes from photosynthesis, where CO2 is captured from the atmosphere by a plant and turned into glucose. The glucose can then be turned into more complicated molecules such as sugars, starches, oils and proteins. Sugars and starches can easily be converted into bioethanol, while oils can be converted into biodiesel. Carbon is removed from the atmosphere, stored in plants for a few months, then released when the biofuel is burned. For every gram of CO2 released by burning a biofuel, there was a gram removed from the atmosphere by photosynthesis just a few months ago. This perfect balance is why biofuels are carbon neutral.

Alternatively, the term carbon neutral can be used to describe energy that does not cause the release of any CO2 at all. For instance, solar cells, wind turbines and hydroelectric turbines generate electricity without releasing CO2. Nuclear power does not release CO2 during the generation process either.

There is a problem with this, however. Currently, virtually all forms of carbon neutral energy actually involve the burning of fossil fuels. The crops for biofuels are harvested using machinery that burns fossil diesel. This is because fossil fuels are a great deal cheaper than biofuels. Some ways of producing biofuels are controversial because so much fossil fuel has to be used in the production process. Some sources of bioethanol are in this grey area. Solar cells, wind and hydroelectric turbines are all produced and transported using fossil fuels to some extent. The technology exists to make these things truly carbon neutral, but it is hopelessly uneconomic at this time. Nuclear power involves the burning of fossil fuels in the mining and transport of uranium, the building of power stations, and the disposal of waste. When uranium becomes scarce, mining it will consume even more fossil fuels.

Sometimes companies plant trees to offset the CO2 released by burning fossil fuels. This is not truly carbon neutral. Fossil carbon is being released into the atmosphere, and locking it up in trees is a very short term measure. To be truly carbon neutral, the carbon would have to be locked up for millions of years. Trees only live for tens or hundreds of years, after which they decay or are burned, releasing the carbon back to the atmosphere. We have no way of knowing whether people in the future will be able to keep replanting trees to keep the carbon locked up.

Scientists are trying ways to lock up carbon on a long term basis. This is called sequestration, and most experiments involve pumping carbon compounds such as CO2 into old oil wells or coal mines. This would genuinely make fossil fuels carbon neutral, but it is questionable whether enough carbon could ever be stored to offset fossil fuel use.

In summary, moving to a genuinely carbon neutral society will take time. It may take government tax breaks to make biofuels and alternative energy economically viable. People can take steps towards being carbon neutral by using biofuels and alternative energy. Where it is impossible to avoid fossil fuels, people can focus on efficiency to reduce their fossil fuel use to a bare minimum, and switch to biofuels when they become available. This will move them closer to the ideal of having no net effect on the amount of carbon in the biosphere, in other words, to be carbon neutral.

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The Various Advantages of Producing Algae Biodiesel

admin — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:19:34 +0000

Algae is a major renewable fuel which can be used to manufacture Biodiesel. One of the companies in New Zealand successfully developed a system for using sewage waste as a substrate for algae and then it produce bio-diesel. An alga is considered as the highest yield feedstock for biodiesel that can produce more enough oil compared to soybeans when grew in an acre.

Actual Biomass algae produced from field trials, which is conducted during the NREL’s aquatic species program. It is being converted using the actual oil content of the algae species grown in the specific program.

There are various advantages of producing biodiesel from algae, which include rapid growth of the plant. Using Algae Biodiesel gives high per acre yield. Algae biodiesel does not used to contain sulfur, toxic materials and it is highly biodegradable. There are some species, which are ideally suited for algae biodiesel production, because their high oil contents in some species.

Algae used to develop from small, singled celled organisms to cellular organisms, some algae have complex distinguished form. Algae can be easily seen at places like damp, bodies of water. Algae are common in terrestrial as well as aquatic environments. Like any other plants algae require three elements to spring up sunlight, carbon-di-oxide and water. Plant algae and some other bacteria convert sunlight to chemical energy, which process call as photosynthesis. Algae used to contain 2% and 40% of lipids or oils by weight. If algae have greater oil, it may results in lower yield annual food crops such as soybeans. Currently only 0.3% of the land of the US, it is getting utilized to produce enough biodiesel.

Species of algae with up to 50% oil content have conclude that only 28000km land getting used to produce biodiesel. Unused desert land could be used for effective growing of algae.

Following is the productions which obtained in an entire year. In the winter months algae productivity used to drop.

Metric Tons / Hectare/ Year

M. minutum alage 1989 35.8

M. minutum alage 1989 30.3

M. minutum alage 1990 38.3

Algae 1978 43.8

Sugarcane 79.2

Oil Palm 50

Arundo Donax 50

To cultivate Algae for Liquid Fuel production requires,

Gallons of Oil per Acre per year

Corn required 15

Safflower required 48

Sunflower required 83

Rapessed required 127

Oil Palm required

Micro Algae required 1850

Micro Algae required 5000-15000

Company, which produces Biodiesel from Algae

The Enhance Biofuels and Technology generate algae process which combines a bioreactor with an open pond. Here both using waste co2 from coal fired power plant flue gases as a fertilizer. Biodiesel and ethanol can be used an alternative fuel and also it is being sold.

GreenFuel Technology, where emissions to Biofuels process, photosynthesis which grows algae, it capture CO2 and it produce high energy biomass. The algae can be economically converted to solid fuel, methane or liquid transportation fuels like biodiesel and ethanol.

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Mean Green » Photosynthesis

Carbon Neutral – What Does It Mean?

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The Various Advantages of Producing Algae Biodiesel

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