Solazyme and the US Navy Jets

Solazyme, a Bay Area company, has developed biofuels and renewable oils from algae, and it has delivered 1,500 gallons of its Solajet HRJ-5 fuel to the US Navy for use in jets.

This certainly looks promising so far, as dependence on fossil fuels has caused huge impediments to the widespread use of clean, renewable, sustainable sources of energy. We’re stuck in a rut, and it’s in enough powerful people’s interest to keep us there that we need a big push and somewhere to go, so to speak. We don’t have sources that produce as much usable energy as coal and petroleum, in general. Solazyme has produced much more oil than its algae fuel/oil competitors because it has eliminated the need for water, which precludes the need to separate the oil from the water and in the final stages of production the need for space that other biofuels require.

In looking at this with a forward-thinking yet critical eye, I wonder a) if we can use this oil in other vehicles besides Navy jets b) if the process by which it is produced is both is sustainable and clean and c) if this fuel burns cleanly. In theory, we certainly can use this fuel and oil in other transportation capacities, even if we don’t currently, but I don’t know how sustainable production is. The algae eats sugar, but sugar still requires space. Sugar must still be grown. How much sugar would we need to grow to feed to how much algae that would, ultimately, power our cars, buses, trains, and planes? I don’t know the answer to that. I do know that according to Solazyme, their fuel reduces CO2 emissions by up to 95%. As long as it doesn’t emit lots of other greenhouse gases, this seems promising.

So, in short, I look to Solazyme with optimism, even if all my questions are not yet answered. I’ll keep on this and let you know what I find.