Can Algae Save The World – Again?
Date: 11-Feb-09 Country: UK Author: Stuart McDill Nicholas Eckelberry, co-founder and inventor of OriginOil, stands next to two test batches of nannochloropsis algae at the company’s laboratory in Los Angeles December 12, 2008. Photo: Bernie Woodall PLYMOUTH – Can algae save the world again? The microscopic green plants cleaned up the earth’s atmosphere millions of years ago and scientists hope they can do it now by helping remove greenhouse gases and create new oil reserves. In the distant past, algae helped turn the earth’s then inhospitable atmosphere into one that could support modern life through photosynthesis, which plants use to turn carbon dioxide and sunlight into sugars and oxygen. Some of the algae sank to sea or lake beds and slowly became oil. “All we’re doing is turning the clock back,” says Steve Skill, a biochemist at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory. “Nature has done this many millions of years ago in producing the crude oil we’re burning today. So as far as nature is c
