![]() But competing with abundantly available and heavily subsidized fossil fuels, particularly gas, was not so easy. And some strains produce large amounts of lipids – fatty acids that can produce an oil, which can be turned into fuel relatively easily. The appeal of algae as a feedstock for biofuels was twofold: because they grow in large concentrations in ponds, they don’t compete with food crops for arable land. All the oil companies have been talking about the need to get into more sustainable things, but it’s hard to make money with. ![]() And usually that’s making a large amount of money. He added: “They’re driven by Wall Street and they have to keep their stock prices high and keep their shareholders happy. It’s great they make these commitments, but you know they need to start putting more capital into these projects.” “It’s very challenging and very expensive to bring these technologies to market,” said George Huber, whose biofuels research at the University of Wisconsin at Madison was funded by Exxon for years. And no oil company was willing to go that far. (Norton says that’s more than double what the company spent on touting this research in ads.)Įven so, every algae researcher who spoke to the Guardian said a real effort to commercialize biofuels, algal or otherwise, requires several billion dollars, and a long-term dedication to overcoming seemingly fundamental biological limitations of wild organisms. ![]() In its 12 years in the space, Exxon invested $350m in algae biofuels, according to spokesperson Casey Norton.
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