Like oil and algae

Written by Tamsin Hemingray on 18 August 2011

With the price of oil on its see-saw journey up and down the charts and the British motorist stung into rueful self-censorship on unnecessary journeys, something has to give.

Oil was riding high at $140 a barrel not so long ago, but now it’s half that. Will we see the difference on the forecourts? Well, there has already been some change, and perhaps once the savings trickle down through the refining process there will be more. But I’m guessing the price you or I pay at the pumps will be somewhat more than half of what we were paying in those heady days in the height of summer.

And it’s a good thing if people think carefully about using their cars when petrol is so expensive, concluding they will scrub off any superfluous driving around, even if this is driven by their pockets, rather than any ecological concerns.

But surely there must be a better way.

When there is no genuine alternative to oil in keeping the world spinning everyone is a loser – our pockets and the planet. It is all well and good making appropriate sounds about soybean or corn biofuels, but they are a charming diversion, rather than the definitive answer to the world’s energy problems.

But help could be at hand. Today sees the launch of the Algae Biofuels Challenge by the Carbon Trust with the intention of commercialising algae-based biofuel as an alternative to traditional fossil-based oil by 2020.

This is an initiative which could see the Carbon Trust giving away up to £6 million in funding in the initial stages.

Instead of the huge areas of arable land which would have to be given over for growing biofuel crops, algae-based fuel would not compete with food for all-important growing space.

And the Carbon Trust has big plans for it, suggesting that by 2030 they could annually replace around 12% of jet fuel consumption or 6% of road transport diesel, leading to an annual carbon saving of more than 160 million tonnes of CO2.

For those us caught between the Scylla and Charybdis of our green conscience on the one hand, and our indolent unwillingness to actually walk anywhere on the other, guilt-free petrol sounds like the perfect answer to having your cake and eating it.

IMAGE by Nieve44/La Luz &

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