Algae as power plant

Photo by skiidolley via flickr

Photo by skiidolley via flickr

A recently announced 200 million euro project in Venice, Italy will harvest algae from seaweed in the city’s canals for use in creating emissions-free energy.  Laboratory-based algae power plants will produce 40 megawatts of electricity–half the energy required by Venice’s city center.

The algae will be cultivated in laboratories and put in plastic cylinders where water, carbon dioxide, and sunshine can trigger photosynthesis. The resulting biomass will be treated further to produce a fuel to turn turbines. The carbon dioxide produced in the process will be fed back to the algae, resulting in zero emissions from the plant.

(via TreeHugger and EcoWorldly)

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