Tell the U.S. Department of Energy to invest more time, money, and research in Alage Biofuels!!

Every day the US imports approx. 20 million barrels per day, of oil, which is more than 25% of the world's total!

If the U.S. Department of Energy will invest more into Algae biofuels we can bring this number down!

Harvested algae release CO2 just like fossil fuels, but when burned the CO2 is taken out of the atmosphere by the growing algae.

Algae costs more per unit mass due to higher capital and operating costs, but they yield between 10 and 100 times more energy per unit area than other second-generation biofuel crops.

Microalgae have much faster growth rates.

The yield of oil from algae is estimated to be between 5,000 to 20,000 US gallons per acre per year. That’s 7 to 30 times greater than the next best crop, Chinese tallow.

Since algae can be grown domestically it will help reduce the amount of petroleum we import to the US.
Algae need water, sunlight and carbon dioxide to grow.

The oil they produce is harvested, then converted into biodiesel

The algae's carbohydrate content are fermented into ethanol.

Both Oil and Ethanol are much cleaner-burning fuels than petroleum based diesel and gas is.

How is chemistry involved?
In order to make Gas from Crude Oil, The crude oil has to be pumped out of the ground into a black liquid called petroleum. Petroleum contains hydrocarbons, and the carbon atoms in crude oil link together in chains of different lengths. The chains C7H16 through C11H24 are used to create Gasoline.

Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algae_fuel
http://www.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/energy_vehicle_algae.aspx
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/algae-biodiesel.htm
http://maps.unomaha.edu/peterson/funda/sidebar/oilconsumption.html