There are lots complications the pretty, telegenic PR person in the first video didn’t mention. I don’t have time to go through these here. The problems will be worked out eventually and the technology will be scaled. But I certainly wouldn’t invest in any of these companies at this point unless I was already independently wealthy.

Oh, and while this will put a dent in the carbon cycle problem, it is not a solution. The algae only takes in CO2 during the day in sunlight and we in the US generate ~7 billion tons/yr of carbon 24/7 – including during the night and when it is cloudy. So we still need to develop cost-efficient CO2 capture technologies from power plants. A slip stream of this CO2 could be sent to the biofuels companies, the rest of the CO2 goes into the ground.

Here’s the real carrot: if it all works we will make the Mideast strategically irrelevant to the interests of the US since we will need much less of OPEC’s oil — Utopia!

The future car industry much more likely will go to electric vehicles which get power from the grid, so biodiesel may have it’s day, but in decades to come, it might be eclipsed by electric vehicles.

Either way we can stop caring about the Mideast.