Comments on: $10MM EERE Funding Opportunity for Algae Biofuel Advancements

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 23:41:00 +0000

Why offline? And is there nothing online you can share about any of this? You mentioned statements by researchers and money going to other purposes — this is all just something you heard from someone? None of it is available online somewhere?

By: fatalgae

fatalgae — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 15:41:00 +0000

Sorry. No baseless claims, No conspiracy. Be more than happy to provide you facts and names of investigators at the IG’s department offline if you would like.

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 14:35:00 +0000

Sorry, but a bunch of baseless claims are going to get marked as trolling. Offer some evidence to your claims or move on. Conspiracy theory rumors don’t cut it here.

By: fatalgae

fatalgae — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 14:23:00 +0000

NREL reports all algae research projects to the DOE Biomass Program in Washington, DC. According to the IG’s office they have asked legitimate questions of the DOE Biomass Program and have gotten stonewalled every time the last few years.
Again, the DOE Biomass Program has stated that ” Less than 20% of all algae grant projects get completed and that algae researchers are being investigated for misuse of grant funds (i.e. setting up wives in business). Congressmen have asked for results for years and were told there are no results. People who tried to change the DOE Biomass Program gave up and quit. Univesity grant recipients have stated publicly a few years ago “All algae technology hurdles have been met. All that is needed is engineering and scale-up going forward. Not more algae research.
Some of the same Phd’s at the DOE Biomass Program claim they have rooms of algae technologies sitting on shelves they admit they don’t understand.
Buffoonery at its finest at the DOE Biomass Program.

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 10:39:00 +0000

Ha, the first question is absurd, as you’d know if you were a regular CleanTechnica reader.

Regarding your claim at the bottom, also absurd. I just interviewed the director of NREL about algae biofuels — i can assure you, that quote is WAY off base.

By: fatalgae

fatalgae — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 17:39:00 +0000

Are you one of the algae researcher that took grant money and set up your wife in business? According to the DOE less than 20% of all algae research projects ever get completed.
“The REAL question is: Does the DOE BIOMASS PROGRAM really want the US off of foreign oil or do they want to continue funding more grants for algae research to keep algae researchers employed at universities for another 50 years?”

A major US university grant reipient pubilicly claimed a few years ago that “all algae technology hurdles have been met. It’s all engineering and scale-up gong forward”.
Please explain why you think you need more grant funding for algae research?

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 21:30:00 +0000

No, the real question is whether you’ll quit overusing your cap locks key.
“In business, you are not given 50 years to research anything.”

Correct. And that’s why we use public funds to do long term research. Business looks for quick profits, business would have never funded the space program or much of our medical research.

If we left it up to business we’d still be getting around in coal powered trains.

By: fatalgae

fatalgae — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 19:44:00 +0000

DOE BIOMASS PROGRAM AND ALGAE RESEARCHERS ARE BEING INVESTIGATED BY IG’s DEPT.

Solydra story is opening a huge can of worms at the DOE GRANT AND LOAN GURANTEE LOAN PROGRAM. Its not just about the Solar loan guarantee program. Look at all the millions in fees collected by the DOE GRANT AND LOAN GUARANTEE PROGRAM with algae projects less than 20% completed. Investigations are going on all DOE Biomass Program Grants to algae researchers.Solydra story is opening a huge can of worms at the DOE GRANT AND LOAN GURANTEE LOAN PROGRAM. Its not just about the Solar loan guarantee program. Look at all the millions in fees collected by the DOE GRANT AND LOAN GUARANTEE PROGRAM with algae projects less than 20% completed. Investigations are going on all DOE Biomass Program Grants to algae researchers.

The US taxpayer has spent over $2.5 billion dollars over the last 50 years on algae research. To date, nothing has been commercialized by any algae researcher.

The REAL question is: Does the DOE BIOMASS PROGRAM really want the US off of foreign oil or do they want to continue funding more grants for algae research to keep algae researchers employed at universities for another 50 years?

In business, you are not given 50 years to research anything. The problem is in the Congressional Mandate that says the DOE can only use taxpayer monies on algae research, NOT algae production in the US. So far, algae research has not got the US off of foreign oil for the last 50 years!

A Concerned Taxpayer

By: Mac McDougal

Mac McDougal — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 17:24:00 +0000

Nice article, many thx! But please: do not use different units to measure success in different arenas. If the BTO’s office considers “5,000 gal/acre” an “important milestone,” then how is the reader to compare that to Aurora’s performance of “12 to 15 metric tons” per acre of saltwater pool per month? This leaves to the side the other issue: time. Is it 5k gal/acre/year? Month? Day? Same with Aurora: metric tons/acre/year? Etc. In short, these numbers are very difficult to interpret.