[Gasification] Fast-Growing Biomass

[andy schofield]

Howdy Jim, REPP (gasification) listers, 
 
  Thank you for the invitation for the workshop on algae. I cannot attend because I live many miles away from the shipyard.
 
   I understand algae is the fastest growing biomass of any.  Trees may be the slowest-growing.
Much CO2 is being absorbed by algae mass in Lake Michigan today. When I was a child I saw no such growth in the lake.
 
  When Captain Cousteau dived on the wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald, in cold Lake Superior, he seemed angry that there were no plants and animals to photograph. He deemed the Great Lakes  "sterile". This was the natural state of the ecosystem in those days. 
 
  Excess phosphate, zebra mussels, and late-summer warm water may have combined to make the lake a giant bioreactor. I am finding masses of algae on the shores of the little finger of the mitten large enough to fill big barns if baled. Jeff Davis would begin thinking hard if he saw these. This area of the lake has strong currents and very cold surface-water most of the year.
 
  Algae has always been part of the system. We can guess why the waters west of the Door Peninsula is called Green Bay.
 
  Please keep us informed on what you learn from Dr. Friendly.
 
Andrew Schofield 
Great Lakes Renewable Fuel Systems
 
   
_________________________________________________________________
Use video conversation to talk face-to-face with Windows Live Messenger.
http://www.windowslive.com/messenger/connect_your_way.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_Refresh_messenger_video_042008