Dutch Ovens

Really interesting market brief from ICAP’s Gary Hart about the impact, players and options surrounding the inevitable CO2 legislation.  It can be found for free here.  Whatever form the policy takes, the end result will be that both utilities and large scale commercial consumers of energy will have to find as many ways as possible to reduce emissions.  Carbon capture and storage, will no doubt be investigated by the utilities.  The process, where emissions are trapped before they leave a plant’s smoke stacks and then rerouted to a deep geological formation or below the ocean floor, is expensive and energy intensive.  Think of it as an enormous dutch oven.  An affordable solution may be found in algae.  For the past decade, MIT’s Isaac Berzin has been developing photobioreactors that can be attached to power-plant smoke stacks.  The algae in the reactors feed on the flu gasses and grow rapidly.  The algae can then be harvested for an end use as bio-fuel or even a dietary supplement.  in this video clip  Berzin demonstrates the process to Scientific American Frontiers’ Alan Alda.  Watch as Hawkeye Pierce actually drinks a smoothie made from the harvested algae.  Not shown, however, was the deadly dutch oven that Mrs. Alda was subjected to later that night.

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