1
00:00:00,520 --> 00:00:03,320
Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, it's me Josh, and I just want to

2
00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:07,000
Speaker 1: remind you that we are releasing a brand new podcast

3
00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:10,640
Speaker 1: called Short Stuff. It's got its own feed and everything,

4
00:00:11,039 --> 00:00:13,760
Speaker 1: but it's still the same great kind of stuff you

5
00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:16,960
Speaker 1: should know that you love. It's got Me and Chuck

6
00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:20,599
Speaker 1: and Jerry, but the topics are briefer and the episodes

7
00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:23,640
Speaker 1: are shorter, and we hope you like it. It's its

8
00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:26,320
Speaker 1: own thing. It comes out every Wednesday, and you can

9
00:00:26,360 --> 00:00:29,760
Speaker 1: find it by going to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever

10
00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:33,920
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts and searching for short Stuff. Enjoy.

11
00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:38,960
Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from house stuff Works

12
00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:48,600
Speaker 1: dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark.

13
00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:52,360
Speaker 1: There's Charles w Chuck Bryant, Jerry's over there. And Jerry said, go,

14
00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:56,120
Speaker 1: so this is stuff you should know which America loves

15
00:00:56,160 --> 00:01:01,279
Speaker 1: because it rhymes. Mmmm what rhymes? Jerry said, go, so

16
00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:06,480
Speaker 1: it's stuff you should not and Americans love rhymes. Isn't

17
00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:11,600
Speaker 1: that the new uh reality show America Loves Rhyming? That'd

18
00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:14,920
Speaker 1: be cool, would be like a hip hop kind of

19
00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:21,560
Speaker 1: talent show. Yeah, I think that'd be neat. America's got rhymes. Yes,

20
00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:26,360
Speaker 1: that's going pretty good. How about you, man, I'm good.

21
00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:30,240
Speaker 1: I'm I'm finally uh all cleared up for my weird

22
00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:33,800
Speaker 1: Australian gold. Oh that's good. You sound much better. You

23
00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:38,680
Speaker 1: look good. Yeah. Just loving life again. Uh well, not that,

24
00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:42,640
Speaker 1: but I feel physically able. It's life and stuff right now.

25
00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:45,000
Speaker 1: But it is, You're like in the grips of it.

26
00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:47,920
Speaker 1: Jerry's all strung out. I'm a little tired kind of

27
00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:51,040
Speaker 1: what going on. If I keep saying, if you see

28
00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:53,360
Speaker 1: me live in November, then that means all as well.

29
00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:59,560
Speaker 1: Yeah almost there, chuck, Just another monthsh yeah, yeah, I

30
00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:02,120
Speaker 1: would stays is. October is my favorite month generally, but

31
00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:06,800
Speaker 1: this October's is the suck. Oh yeah, you're Halloween is

32
00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:09,720
Speaker 1: your favorite holiday kind of person? Huh? I love it.

33
00:02:09,760 --> 00:02:13,480
Speaker 1: Just Halloween football's cranking up, that first fall breeze blows

34
00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:17,680
Speaker 1: in the whole thing of October. But of course it's Atlanta,

35
00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:20,359
Speaker 1: so it's still you know, in the nineties. It's a

36
00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:24,480
Speaker 1: weirdly hot, ridiculous Atlanta has got some odd weather. I'll

37
00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:26,840
Speaker 1: give you that. My friend I was telling Jerry the

38
00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:28,720
Speaker 1: other day that I saw a thing. I believe it

39
00:02:28,760 --> 00:02:31,920
Speaker 1: was the New York Times had this interactive feature where

40
00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:35,760
Speaker 1: you could see how many days above ninety degrees where

41
00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:38,360
Speaker 1: you lived was when you were born compared to now.

42
00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:42,440
Speaker 1: And in nineteen seventy one, Atlanta had fifty five days

43
00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:46,200
Speaker 1: above ninety Now it has seventy seven, and in another

44
00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:48,440
Speaker 1: like ten years, I think it'll be ninety days above

45
00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:52,640
Speaker 1: ninety degrees because the climate change. Or is that just

46
00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:55,760
Speaker 1: the New York Times editorial opinion. No, I mean this

47
00:02:55,880 --> 00:02:59,480
Speaker 1: is These are the facts. They didn't say. Why if

48
00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:01,560
Speaker 1: we could devay that if you want, because it sounds

49
00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:05,119
Speaker 1: fake to me. No, I mean, that's just the reality

50
00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:08,120
Speaker 1: of the temperature. They weren't saying. I think let's just

51
00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:11,320
Speaker 1: draw around conclusions. Sure, sure, I know. The point is

52
00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:14,360
Speaker 1: it's hot. It is hot, and you know what happens

53
00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:21,079
Speaker 1: when it's hot, Chuck, I love this segue. Algae blooms. Yep,

54
00:03:21,639 --> 00:03:25,280
Speaker 1: you know what happens when algae blooms. Fuel is born.

55
00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:35,800
Speaker 1: All kinds of things. Potentially you're born, cosmetics, mayonnaise, um, food, livestock, sushi, succi,

56
00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:40,200
Speaker 1: all that stuff. All of it is born when algae blooms.

57
00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:50,080
Speaker 1: Sushi sandwiches, sushi, shushi sandwich. Oh, Steve brule our heart. Yeah,

58
00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:55,000
Speaker 1: I had a very flirted with greatness when a publicist

59
00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:57,040
Speaker 1: for John c Riley said that he might be on

60
00:03:57,080 --> 00:03:59,560
Speaker 1: movie crush and it did not happen. So oh, I'm

61
00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:02,120
Speaker 1: sorry about that. That's right. That would have been That

62
00:04:02,160 --> 00:04:04,160
Speaker 1: would have been pretty exciting. You were broken up for

63
00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:06,920
Speaker 1: a little while there, weren't you, right though? Yeah? You

64
00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:11,320
Speaker 1: recovered just like it was an Australian cold. Nothing. All right,

65
00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:15,560
Speaker 1: So let's talk algae. This is pretty remarkable. Yes, So, um,

66
00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:18,040
Speaker 1: we should kind of set the states here because just

67
00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:21,920
Speaker 1: in the last couple of years, the bottom has kind

68
00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:26,080
Speaker 1: of dropped out on the algae. Is bio fuel um

69
00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:30,719
Speaker 1: push among venture capitalists and oil companies dropped out? Is

70
00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:34,040
Speaker 1: in not happening. It's not happening, at least not right now.

71
00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:36,440
Speaker 1: There was this There was this moment in time about

72
00:04:36,640 --> 00:04:40,080
Speaker 1: two thousand and eleven to say, I think two thousand fifteen,

73
00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:43,960
Speaker 1: where it looked like at least as as far as

74
00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:48,080
Speaker 1: like money and attention and media exposure that was being

75
00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:51,280
Speaker 1: thrown at algae was that it was it was the

76
00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:54,120
Speaker 1: next great bio fuel, and that it was going to

77
00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:57,920
Speaker 1: happen really soon. But the thing that I was learning

78
00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:01,160
Speaker 1: about venture capitalists is like they know like soon, they

79
00:05:01,279 --> 00:05:04,800
Speaker 1: like right now. And so as it became very clear

80
00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:07,839
Speaker 1: that a lot of the early preliminary results from the

81
00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:11,560
Speaker 1: lab we're not necessarily translating into the real world, a

82
00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:14,760
Speaker 1: lot of people walked away. But in doing that that

83
00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:17,960
Speaker 1: it's not to say that algae as a biofuel isn't

84
00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:21,120
Speaker 1: going to be a viable fuel of the future. It's

85
00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:22,760
Speaker 1: just going to take a lot more money and a

86
00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:25,640
Speaker 1: lot more time than everybody at first was kind of

87
00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:28,080
Speaker 1: hyped up for over the last couple of years. So

88
00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:30,640
Speaker 1: it's still there, the promise is still there. It's just

89
00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:33,599
Speaker 1: not happening tomorrow. Some people predict it might not even

90
00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:35,839
Speaker 1: happen this century, but I take issue with that. I

91
00:05:35,839 --> 00:05:38,320
Speaker 1: think it will happen in the twenty one century. Well,

92
00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:41,160
Speaker 1: it's funny because I did UM occasionally for stuff like this,

93
00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:44,240
Speaker 1: I will search just news uh on the old Google,

94
00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:49,479
Speaker 1: and today they're popped up an article about a company

95
00:05:49,520 --> 00:05:53,359
Speaker 1: in Hawaii that is in fact pushing forward UM. After

96
00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:56,200
Speaker 1: all they're testing and everything, they're pushing forward with with

97
00:05:56,360 --> 00:06:00,400
Speaker 1: a with the plant with a bio diesel production plant

98
00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:03,000
Speaker 1: from algae. So that's awesome. At least one place is

99
00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:05,840
Speaker 1: doing it in Hawaii. Yeah, I think I think there

100
00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:08,080
Speaker 1: are a few companies that are like, we're staying the course,

101
00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:10,240
Speaker 1: we're going to figure this out. But for what I

102
00:06:10,279 --> 00:06:13,800
Speaker 1: saw in the parlance of venture capitalists, the industry is

103
00:06:13,839 --> 00:06:19,120
Speaker 1: pivoted to UM food production more than um food, and

104
00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:23,840
Speaker 1: food and additive production more than um fuel. But from

105
00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:27,600
Speaker 1: the research, they're learning how to grow more algae faster

106
00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:31,200
Speaker 1: and better and harvesting it more cheaply and processing it

107
00:06:31,279 --> 00:06:34,120
Speaker 1: more cheaply. All of those lessons can be extrapolated over

108
00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:36,920
Speaker 1: to the fuel industry as well. So as long as

109
00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:39,880
Speaker 1: people are messing around with algae, there's a lot of

110
00:06:39,880 --> 00:06:41,640
Speaker 1: good stuff that's going to come from it. And I

111
00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:44,839
Speaker 1: can understand after researching this article where all that hype

112
00:06:44,839 --> 00:06:49,560
Speaker 1: came from, because it's just like beautiful stuff. Yeah, it

113
00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:52,159
Speaker 1: really is, and we should we should specify here, and

114
00:06:52,200 --> 00:06:56,440
Speaker 1: we're talking algae. There's something like a hundred thousand or

115
00:06:56,560 --> 00:07:03,039
Speaker 1: more different genetically diverse strains of algae um but typically

116
00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:07,159
Speaker 1: you can kind of divide it into two categories. There's microalgae,

117
00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:11,160
Speaker 1: which is what makes water green and it's a microscopic,

118
00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:14,600
Speaker 1: single cell plant and then there's macro algae, which is

119
00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:17,000
Speaker 1: like you think of with seaweed or kelp or sea

120
00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:20,840
Speaker 1: lettuce or something like that. Yeah. And you know, for

121
00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:25,120
Speaker 1: this show, we're talking about alga culture. Um. And this

122
00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:27,480
Speaker 1: is not any I mean it's new in the sense

123
00:07:27,560 --> 00:07:31,200
Speaker 1: that we are rampant gump efforts into studying like bi

124
00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:34,520
Speaker 1: fuels and stuff like that. But the Japanese have been

125
00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:44,000
Speaker 1: cultivating algae for a long long time, like years or more. Yeah, exactly. So, Uh,

126
00:07:44,440 --> 00:07:46,960
Speaker 1: it's always been a big thing there. Uh. In the

127
00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:50,960
Speaker 1: British Isles, like in in sixteen century Mexico with the Aztecs,

128
00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:55,000
Speaker 1: people have been eating algae, using algae. We're gonna talk

129
00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:59,920
Speaker 1: a lot about spilina, which has been consumed in harvest

130
00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:03,920
Speaker 1: it for thousands of years. Uh, and so you know

131
00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:08,360
Speaker 1: we've been eating it, using it for fertilizers, um, thickening

132
00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:10,640
Speaker 1: agents for food like you said with mayonnaise, and like

133
00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:15,320
Speaker 1: in things like toothpaste. It's a big, big business. I believe,

134
00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:19,160
Speaker 1: about a six billion dollar worldwide business, a couple of

135
00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:25,440
Speaker 1: billion of which is for seaweed paper alone for nori. Yeah,

136
00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:27,920
Speaker 1: just for the stuff they wrap sushi. And it's two

137
00:08:27,960 --> 00:08:33,760
Speaker 1: billion dollars two billion dollars for those delicious green sheets

138
00:08:33,800 --> 00:08:36,720
Speaker 1: that look like paper that you eat. Yeah, So as

139
00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:39,120
Speaker 1: it stands, even without the idea of it being like

140
00:08:39,160 --> 00:08:42,640
Speaker 1: the next alternative energy, it's still a six billion dollar business, right,

141
00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:45,079
Speaker 1: so there's a lot of reason for people to keep

142
00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:47,720
Speaker 1: paying attention. Is there's money to be made in algae

143
00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:50,480
Speaker 1: in other words, right, Yeah, but you can you know,

144
00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:52,160
Speaker 1: like we said, with a bio fuel and we'll get

145
00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:54,120
Speaker 1: into this more. One of the cool things about algae

146
00:08:54,240 --> 00:08:56,600
Speaker 1: is how versatile it is. Beyond the fact that you

147
00:08:56,640 --> 00:08:58,840
Speaker 1: can eat it and you can well we'll talk about

148
00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:00,640
Speaker 1: all the myriad things you can do with it, but

149
00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:04,240
Speaker 1: you can squeeze oil out of that stuff that can

150
00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:08,439
Speaker 1: be turned into gasoline or jet fuel, which is amazing. Yeah,

151
00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:12,800
Speaker 1: you can replace kerosene with biofuel form algy and you

152
00:09:12,840 --> 00:09:15,520
Speaker 1: can use the waste product that you get as a result.

153
00:09:15,559 --> 00:09:20,600
Speaker 1: It's it's really sort of a wonderful thing. And here

154
00:09:20,640 --> 00:09:25,640
Speaker 1: goes it sounds like a big, long setup, So it was.

155
00:09:25,840 --> 00:09:28,960
Speaker 1: It was a beautiful one man way to go um

156
00:09:29,040 --> 00:09:32,400
Speaker 1: so with with algae with either type. What we're talking

157
00:09:32,400 --> 00:09:35,959
Speaker 1: about our plants, right, and just like any other plants,

158
00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:40,360
Speaker 1: they produce uh, they produce their own food through photosynthesis.

159
00:09:40,679 --> 00:09:45,280
Speaker 1: Green plants they use chlorophyll and sunlight, and they convert um.

160
00:09:45,320 --> 00:09:48,280
Speaker 1: They also use carbon dioxide and they convert all that

161
00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:53,640
Speaker 1: into energy stores and they give off as a byproduct oxygen.

162
00:09:54,080 --> 00:09:57,280
Speaker 1: So you can start to see why algae is a

163
00:09:57,320 --> 00:10:00,200
Speaker 1: bit of a darling of the environmentalists set, because is

164
00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:03,640
Speaker 1: first of all, it's drawing C O two from the

165
00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:07,720
Speaker 1: air and it's putting out oxygen as a byproduct, and

166
00:10:07,760 --> 00:10:10,560
Speaker 1: then it's a darling of the energy set. These are

167
00:10:10,559 --> 00:10:15,559
Speaker 1: two different sets that sometimes overlap um because you can

168
00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:19,800
Speaker 1: actually take the energy store and which is stored largely

169
00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:22,000
Speaker 1: in the form of oil, but we'll see other kinds

170
00:10:22,040 --> 00:10:24,559
Speaker 1: and unlock it, like you said, in different types of fuel.

171
00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:27,720
Speaker 1: That's easier said than done. But you can also do

172
00:10:27,760 --> 00:10:31,960
Speaker 1: a lot of this stuff with lamb based plants to right,

173
00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:34,720
Speaker 1: and there actually was a big push there were Algae

174
00:10:34,760 --> 00:10:38,640
Speaker 1: represents the third generation of bio fuels. The first generation

175
00:10:38,760 --> 00:10:42,760
Speaker 1: was UM basically like cellulosic ethanol, using like corn to

176
00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:46,520
Speaker 1: turn into um fuel, which a lot of people were like,

177
00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:49,439
Speaker 1: this is really great. And then if you'll remember those

178
00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:51,640
Speaker 1: food riots in like Egypt and Haiti, and I think

179
00:10:51,679 --> 00:10:55,320
Speaker 1: two thousand and eight, you like, diverting corn from the

180
00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:58,839
Speaker 1: food supply over to the energy sector is really really bad.

181
00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:01,160
Speaker 1: So people said, Okay, we don't want to we don't

182
00:11:01,160 --> 00:11:02,959
Speaker 1: want to mess with our food supply. We can't use

183
00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:06,920
Speaker 1: food for energy, but we can use waste from that stuff.

184
00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:10,240
Speaker 1: So like you can take the um corn stalks that

185
00:11:10,280 --> 00:11:13,960
Speaker 1: nobody's eating and turn them into a biofuel, which is great,

186
00:11:14,360 --> 00:11:17,720
Speaker 1: but it requires several extra expensive steps, so it's just

187
00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:21,000
Speaker 1: not cost efficient. Now algae came along and it has

188
00:11:21,040 --> 00:11:23,240
Speaker 1: a lot of things going for it compared to land

189
00:11:23,280 --> 00:11:26,640
Speaker 1: based plants that made it really really attractive for a

190
00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:30,960
Speaker 1: number of reasons. Well, yeah, for sure. Uh it's and

191
00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:33,640
Speaker 1: when we when we say something is fast growing algae,

192
00:11:34,640 --> 00:11:37,240
Speaker 1: we need a new word for how fast algae can grow.

193
00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:42,720
Speaker 1: Ultra fast growing. Yeah, like that turbo turbo growth. Uh.

194
00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:45,040
Speaker 1: Land plants like you were talking about, sometimes it takes

195
00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:48,959
Speaker 1: years or months maybe to reach maturity. Um algae can

196
00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:52,200
Speaker 1: do this. That can complete a life cycle sometimes in

197
00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:56,360
Speaker 1: a day. Algae can well. Some algae because I think

198
00:11:56,400 --> 00:11:58,679
Speaker 1: there are more than seventy thousand species. I saw a

199
00:11:58,760 --> 00:12:04,800
Speaker 1: hundred thousand. Really they probably found thirty this morning. Um.

200
00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:08,640
Speaker 1: Some algae, though, can double their biomass in an hour. Uh.

201
00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:13,960
Speaker 1: Super efficient as far as converting solar energy to biomass, um,

202
00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:18,640
Speaker 1: I believe land plants use like of their energy just

203
00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:23,320
Speaker 1: building like the structure like roots, structures and stems and

204
00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:27,800
Speaker 1: things needed to like support the plant itself. You don't

205
00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:30,559
Speaker 1: need this with algae. It's just floating out there, right, So,

206
00:12:30,679 --> 00:12:34,400
Speaker 1: I mean, if you're using of that sunlight and carbon

207
00:12:34,440 --> 00:12:37,760
Speaker 1: dioxide nutrients just to build the structure, you need to

208
00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:40,240
Speaker 1: keep doing that just to be a dumb plant. That's

209
00:12:40,240 --> 00:12:44,400
Speaker 1: extraordinarily inefficient, at least compared to algae, which it just

210
00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:47,040
Speaker 1: floats in the water, doesn't need roots, it doesn't need

211
00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:50,200
Speaker 1: much structure. It's a single celled plant. So basically all

212
00:12:50,280 --> 00:12:54,599
Speaker 1: it is is a little solar powered energy producing factory,

213
00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:57,720
Speaker 1: and that's what it does and it doesn't so it's

214
00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:01,520
Speaker 1: extraordinarily efficient compared to land plants, for sure. Uh. Compared

215
00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:04,000
Speaker 1: to land plants, you can grow algae and very very

216
00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:07,680
Speaker 1: tight concentrated spaces. Uh. I have here that they produce

217
00:13:07,760 --> 00:13:10,880
Speaker 1: up to a hundred times more oil breaker a hundred

218
00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:14,840
Speaker 1: times than land plants. Yeah, that's remarkable. Yeah, that's pretty

219
00:13:14,840 --> 00:13:20,160
Speaker 1: substantial too. Plus, um, there's different types of algae that

220
00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:24,240
Speaker 1: produce oils are edible for food. Um. I don't think

221
00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:29,240
Speaker 1: they very frequently overlap. But from all these different types

222
00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:31,520
Speaker 1: of algae, you can say, well, all I have is

223
00:13:31,559 --> 00:13:35,480
Speaker 1: the salt marsh pond to grow algae in what kind

224
00:13:35,559 --> 00:13:38,480
Speaker 1: of algae can I have? God? And God goes here,

225
00:13:38,559 --> 00:13:41,080
Speaker 1: take this algae. It's pretty great. I'll give you a

226
00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:44,600
Speaker 1: pretty good buzz too if you dry it out. And uh,

227
00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:47,000
Speaker 1: the guy takes it from God, puts it in a

228
00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:50,320
Speaker 1: salt marsh pond, harvests it, saves a little bit for

229
00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:53,520
Speaker 1: his head stash, and then sells the rest to Rex Tillerson.

230
00:13:54,120 --> 00:14:00,320
Speaker 1: That's right, and that's the end of the Bible. And uh,

231
00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:02,920
Speaker 1: the other cool thing is algae doesn't compete. It's not

232
00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:06,000
Speaker 1: like an either or with land plants. It grows in

233
00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:08,520
Speaker 1: the water, So it's not like, oh, I need all

234
00:14:08,520 --> 00:14:12,120
Speaker 1: this land that you need for corn to grow my algae.

235
00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:15,080
Speaker 1: It's a big one. Don't even need fresh water there.

236
00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:19,320
Speaker 1: It can grow in in gross water, dirty water, polluted water,

237
00:14:19,760 --> 00:14:22,800
Speaker 1: salt water. And not all algae, but certain kinds of algae.

238
00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:28,440
Speaker 1: Uh So it's not like there there they can coexist,

239
00:14:28,520 --> 00:14:30,200
Speaker 1: you know, they can all just be friendly. You can

240
00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:33,600
Speaker 1: still have your corn fields in your algae ponds. Yeah.

241
00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:36,840
Speaker 1: And again it's like it's unlike the first generation of

242
00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:39,960
Speaker 1: bio fuels. It's not competing directly with the food supply.

243
00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:43,400
Speaker 1: It's not saying, well, we need this land to grow algae,

244
00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:46,440
Speaker 1: so we can't grow corn on it. It's we've got

245
00:14:46,520 --> 00:14:48,120
Speaker 1: all this land to grow corn, and we've got this

246
00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:51,040
Speaker 1: stupid pond that's not doing anything for anybody. Let's grow

247
00:14:51,080 --> 00:14:53,560
Speaker 1: algae in there too, baby, And then you've got a

248
00:14:53,560 --> 00:14:56,000
Speaker 1: farmer that's growing both. One of the other things about

249
00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:59,360
Speaker 1: algae too, Chuck, is that a lot of those things overlap, right.

250
00:14:59,640 --> 00:15:03,200
Speaker 1: You can you can you can actually set up a

251
00:15:03,280 --> 00:15:08,520
Speaker 1: kind of algae that is not only like producing oil.

252
00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:11,920
Speaker 1: You can use the leftover stuff after you've extracted the

253
00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:15,320
Speaker 1: oil to feed your cows on your on your land,

254
00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:18,840
Speaker 1: or to feed the corn that's going to feed the cows.

255
00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:22,200
Speaker 1: And then all the while you're also drawing carbon dioxide

256
00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:25,680
Speaker 1: from the atmosphere. So it's pretty it's pretty great. It's

257
00:15:25,720 --> 00:15:28,280
Speaker 1: pretty versatile, and there's a lot of reasons people like

258
00:15:28,400 --> 00:15:30,600
Speaker 1: it so on all that, I think we set it

259
00:15:30,640 --> 00:15:33,280
Speaker 1: up pretty well. You want to take a break, Yeah,

260
00:15:33,320 --> 00:15:34,880
Speaker 1: I get you know how excited I get when we

261
00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:37,880
Speaker 1: talk about efficient systems. I know you do. You get jazz?

262
00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:40,120
Speaker 1: I need to like, I need to go calm down.

263
00:15:40,240 --> 00:16:07,360
Speaker 1: All right? Oh all right? So we set up that

264
00:16:07,440 --> 00:16:11,840
Speaker 1: algae is basically the miracle of miracles here on planet Earth. Uh,

265
00:16:11,960 --> 00:16:15,160
Speaker 1: if you've got water, you've got a sun in the sky,

266
00:16:16,520 --> 00:16:20,880
Speaker 1: and some nutrients, then you can harvest I mean, you

267
00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:23,440
Speaker 1: can harvest algae. But algae, you don't, like, it'll grow

268
00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:26,720
Speaker 1: on its own, right, Oh yeah, I mean that's I mean,

269
00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:29,240
Speaker 1: it grows naturally. It's not like we created this stuff.

270
00:16:29,320 --> 00:16:32,080
Speaker 1: But you can grow it on your own. You can't. Well,

271
00:16:32,120 --> 00:16:34,320
Speaker 1: there's there's I think what you're saying, what it's like,

272
00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:36,800
Speaker 1: there's there's techniques you can do to improve the growth

273
00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:39,360
Speaker 1: of algae, right yeah, or like you can you know,

274
00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:42,320
Speaker 1: you can harvest is stuff from the ocean. But there

275
00:16:42,320 --> 00:16:44,720
Speaker 1: are many many ways to actually like have your own

276
00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:48,800
Speaker 1: little algae farm, right, especially if you're making um, if

277
00:16:48,840 --> 00:16:52,680
Speaker 1: you're if you're doing um micro algae, like the tiny

278
00:16:52,760 --> 00:16:55,000
Speaker 1: single celled stuff that you actually can't see. It's just

279
00:16:55,360 --> 00:16:59,120
Speaker 1: you know, when water turns green, Yeah, that's that's algae

280
00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:00,880
Speaker 1: in it. It's not like you can you can see

281
00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:03,040
Speaker 1: it or anything. The stuff you can see that's considered

282
00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:09,520
Speaker 1: macro algae. Microalgae is again single celled, microscopic individual plants

283
00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:11,600
Speaker 1: that there's so many of them they just tint the

284
00:17:11,600 --> 00:17:14,280
Speaker 1: water green. So if you want to grow those, there's

285
00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:19,440
Speaker 1: a few different techniques available to actually farming um algae. Again,

286
00:17:19,440 --> 00:17:22,520
Speaker 1: it's called alga culture, which is not a beautiful word,

287
00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:25,320
Speaker 1: but it's like it works. Do you I like, I

288
00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:27,640
Speaker 1: like how it looks more than I like how it sounds.

289
00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:30,359
Speaker 1: Alga culture. I like it. Yeah, it's like you like,

290
00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:32,439
Speaker 1: you like choked on something in the middle of the

291
00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:37,359
Speaker 1: word alga culture. All right, So we have the three methods.

292
00:17:37,359 --> 00:17:40,520
Speaker 1: Like you're saying, um, you have your standard open pond,

293
00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:45,920
Speaker 1: your standard clothes pond, and your standard bio photo reactor. UM.

294
00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:48,040
Speaker 1: An open pond is exactly what you think. That's the

295
00:17:48,080 --> 00:17:50,919
Speaker 1: cheapest way to do it. Obviously, the simplest way, the

296
00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:56,120
Speaker 1: sort of old fashioned way, is in a big shallow pond. Um.

297
00:17:56,440 --> 00:17:58,280
Speaker 1: And it's you know, it's not just willy nilly that

298
00:17:58,359 --> 00:18:01,959
Speaker 1: will usually divide this thing up in to um almost

299
00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:04,560
Speaker 1: like I mean, they say race ways, which is really

300
00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:07,120
Speaker 1: kind of dumb. In this article, I would say it's

301
00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:11,960
Speaker 1: more like lines of like planted rows of corn. Let's say, yeah,

302
00:18:12,080 --> 00:18:15,640
Speaker 1: kind except it's algae. And the thing is is sunlight,

303
00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:17,800
Speaker 1: uh is great for algae, but it only you know,

304
00:18:17,840 --> 00:18:19,760
Speaker 1: once you get a lot of algae going, it only

305
00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:22,680
Speaker 1: penetrates so far into the water. So what you need

306
00:18:22,720 --> 00:18:24,640
Speaker 1: to do is you need to agitate it and stir

307
00:18:24,800 --> 00:18:27,960
Speaker 1: that algae up to make sure everything gets a little

308
00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:31,120
Speaker 1: taste of that sweet sweet sunlight. Uh. And in case

309
00:18:31,160 --> 00:18:32,920
Speaker 1: of an open pond, you have a system like a

310
00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:36,960
Speaker 1: paddle wheel system, agitating and stuff, exposing everything to the

311
00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:40,160
Speaker 1: light all the while. It's almost like composting in a way.

312
00:18:40,240 --> 00:18:43,720
Speaker 1: You're you're mixing and nutrients and c O two into

313
00:18:43,760 --> 00:18:47,000
Speaker 1: the liquid um. It's a great system, but it's it's

314
00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:51,479
Speaker 1: the one that produces the least biomass um. It loses

315
00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:54,160
Speaker 1: water to evaporation, so you continually need to add water.

316
00:18:54,960 --> 00:18:58,880
Speaker 1: And this is the one where contamination or predators can

317
00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:03,920
Speaker 1: come in and you know, p or eat or yeah, yeah,

318
00:19:03,960 --> 00:19:06,440
Speaker 1: I guess either one would be a problem. Huh. Yeah,

319
00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:09,240
Speaker 1: you've got a wolf pean in your algae pond or

320
00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:11,600
Speaker 1: eating the algae. You don't want either one of those. Ye,

321
00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:14,960
Speaker 1: So that's the open pond. UM close pond is about

322
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:17,800
Speaker 1: the same, but you've you've covered it up sort of

323
00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:20,760
Speaker 1: like a greenhouse, which means a little more costs, but

324
00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:23,000
Speaker 1: you have a lot more control you do, and the

325
00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:25,280
Speaker 1: cost would be mostly up front if you if you

326
00:19:25,359 --> 00:19:29,639
Speaker 1: build the greenhouse correctly, it's not too expensive to build

327
00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:32,040
Speaker 1: a greenhouse, although if you're doing it on a very

328
00:19:32,119 --> 00:19:34,920
Speaker 1: very large scale, you either need a lot of ponds

329
00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:37,159
Speaker 1: with a lot of greenhouses or one big pond with

330
00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:39,840
Speaker 1: a massive greenhouse over it. Either way, the point is

331
00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:44,520
Speaker 1: is you're exerting your human right to control nature over

332
00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:48,120
Speaker 1: the pond that you're growing algae, and it has your

333
00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:51,040
Speaker 1: wolf friend can't get in um, it's not going to

334
00:19:51,119 --> 00:19:54,320
Speaker 1: get contaminated by other algae. It's just a it's just

335
00:19:54,359 --> 00:19:57,760
Speaker 1: a lot easier to control, and it's not, i would guess,

336
00:19:57,760 --> 00:20:02,160
Speaker 1: not too terribly much more expensive than the and pond method. Yeah,

337
00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:05,960
Speaker 1: if you've got if money is no object, if you're

338
00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:09,280
Speaker 1: a person of means and you want to allow your friends, Yeah,

339
00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:10,800
Speaker 1: and you want to really want to show off and

340
00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:14,240
Speaker 1: annoy your neighbor. Although I think these things look really cool,

341
00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:16,439
Speaker 1: Actually I do too. It looks like something that the

342
00:20:16,440 --> 00:20:21,400
Speaker 1: Ghostbusters would have trapped some you know, it looks like ectoplasm.

343
00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:24,879
Speaker 1: It's very bright green. Um. The bio photoreactor method, this

344
00:20:24,960 --> 00:20:30,200
Speaker 1: is completely closed. Um. Basically you're growing algae in these tubes.

345
00:20:30,800 --> 00:20:34,000
Speaker 1: It's all I mean, I say artificial. It's not artificial

346
00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:38,359
Speaker 1: because it's still water, but you're you're completely manipulating what's

347
00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:42,320
Speaker 1: going on with pumps and nutrients and water and light

348
00:20:42,440 --> 00:20:46,680
Speaker 1: in these clear tubes. Um. Sometimes it's like an automatic

349
00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:49,720
Speaker 1: system that's all completely set up. You know, it's a

350
00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:53,359
Speaker 1: lot of money, but it's a really like it's the

351
00:20:53,400 --> 00:20:56,000
Speaker 1: most efficient way to do it, even though it's the

352
00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:58,760
Speaker 1: most expensive it is. But I mean, like if you

353
00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:02,480
Speaker 1: if you're you know, growing algae for commercial purposes and

354
00:21:02,520 --> 00:21:06,439
Speaker 1: you've got a little sweet VC money, you might as

355
00:21:06,440 --> 00:21:10,160
Speaker 1: well set up a bio photo reactor. You're right, you've

356
00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:14,640
Speaker 1: got I mean, you've got light coming from all directions right, um,

357
00:21:14,760 --> 00:21:20,320
Speaker 1: and you have uh a controlled closed system. Because one

358
00:21:20,359 --> 00:21:21,960
Speaker 1: of the things ABOi alogay is it grows and it

359
00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:24,960
Speaker 1: grows really fast. But if you can, if you make

360
00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:27,919
Speaker 1: sure it has nutrients it needs, the pH is just

361
00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:31,439
Speaker 1: right like it like slightly alkaline water of a pH

362
00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:34,800
Speaker 1: between seven and nine I believe, with a temperature of

363
00:21:35,280 --> 00:21:39,320
Speaker 1: sixty eight degrees fahrenheight. You like, you can control all

364
00:21:39,359 --> 00:21:42,680
Speaker 1: this stuff very easily with the biophoto reactor. Again, the

365
00:21:43,080 --> 00:21:47,399
Speaker 1: problem is the upfront cost, yeah, for sure. But the

366
00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:50,840
Speaker 1: thing is is with these three methods you can grow algae.

367
00:21:51,240 --> 00:21:55,600
Speaker 1: That's some methods are better than others, but you know

368
00:21:55,640 --> 00:21:58,200
Speaker 1: that you can grow algae in here. The problem really

369
00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:02,320
Speaker 1: comes in in getting the algae out of the water

370
00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:06,240
Speaker 1: and then getting the oil or whatever you're trying to

371
00:22:06,280 --> 00:22:08,919
Speaker 1: get from the algae out of the algae. There's a

372
00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:11,640
Speaker 1: lot of um, there's a lot of steps you need

373
00:22:11,680 --> 00:22:14,080
Speaker 1: to take in and some of like the more steps

374
00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:18,600
Speaker 1: you add, the more involved each step becomes, the more

375
00:22:18,640 --> 00:22:23,040
Speaker 1: expensive the processes. And when the process gets expensive, those

376
00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:25,439
Speaker 1: VC guys start to walk away. So you have to

377
00:22:25,440 --> 00:22:28,440
Speaker 1: figure out these this process and that's kind of where

378
00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:31,360
Speaker 1: it's at right now. In part. That's kind of where um,

379
00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:36,040
Speaker 1: the at least algae biofuel industry is stalled out right now. Yeah.

380
00:22:36,080 --> 00:22:39,919
Speaker 1: So those three methods that's for cultivating the micro algae

381
00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:42,639
Speaker 1: um the macro algae that we talked about, which is

382
00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:46,479
Speaker 1: kelp and sea lettuce and the stuff that like when

383
00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:48,680
Speaker 1: you're in the ocean, like, oh, get that stuff away

384
00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:51,240
Speaker 1: from me, Like I don't want the miracle plant on

385
00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:56,800
Speaker 1: my leg um. That stuff has been cultivated for centuries,

386
00:22:57,320 --> 00:23:01,640
Speaker 1: thousands and thousands of years in the open sea um,

387
00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:06,040
Speaker 1: the ocean, the sunlight, everything that it needs is in there,

388
00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:09,879
Speaker 1: and it grows like crazy. It's great. Harvesting this stuff

389
00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:12,399
Speaker 1: is a little tough. Uh. They've been doing it, like

390
00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:15,639
Speaker 1: I said, for thousands of years and in coastal areas

391
00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:19,520
Speaker 1: all over the place, all over the world. But they,

392
00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:21,680
Speaker 1: you know, begin to think like hey, we we maybe

393
00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:24,800
Speaker 1: want to cultivate this stuff. Uh so what do we do?

394
00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:28,280
Speaker 1: Maybe you know, it'll attach to a rope, like the

395
00:23:28,359 --> 00:23:31,000
Speaker 1: spore attaches to a rope and it grows on that.

396
00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:34,160
Speaker 1: So let's just throw these rope lines down on anchors

397
00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:40,000
Speaker 1: and it's basically a vertical growth rope. Uh, the same

398
00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:42,840
Speaker 1: like with a large net. It grows on that rope

399
00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:47,359
Speaker 1: and they basically can just like anchor the stuff down

400
00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:51,359
Speaker 1: have it grow along these rope lines and then pull

401
00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:54,200
Speaker 1: those in when you want to harvest it, right exactly,

402
00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:59,400
Speaker 1: that's a pretty that's a a traditional way of cultivating it. Um.

403
00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:02,120
Speaker 1: If you're up and knees, you think, well, I guess

404
00:24:02,119 --> 00:24:05,800
Speaker 1: I'll just invent a really awesome machine that mows the

405
00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:09,160
Speaker 1: law and of a kelp forest underwater and just harvest

406
00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:12,800
Speaker 1: it like that. So there's that technique as well. Uh.

407
00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:16,600
Speaker 1: And then you also like there's just walking out into

408
00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:20,639
Speaker 1: the water and and grabbing whether it's kelp or um

409
00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:25,000
Speaker 1: floating kind of mucky algae um, you can just harvest

410
00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:28,560
Speaker 1: it as simply as that. The difference is you're talking

411
00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:30,840
Speaker 1: about macro alergae is something you can put your hands

412
00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:33,200
Speaker 1: on and just kind of put into like a bucket

413
00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:37,240
Speaker 1: or a bag or a basket or something some receptacle

414
00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:41,000
Speaker 1: of some type um. Whereas with my with microalgay, if

415
00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:43,160
Speaker 1: you try to do that, it's just gonna you've got

416
00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:46,560
Speaker 1: a bucket full of water. You still have this harvesting

417
00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:51,840
Speaker 1: technique that makes microalergy so much more difficult that you

418
00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:54,480
Speaker 1: you can't just use traditional techniques to harvest it. It's

419
00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:57,920
Speaker 1: you have to basically set up some big time machines. Yeah,

420
00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:03,959
Speaker 1: so let's talk about the harvesting and processing a little bit. Um.

421
00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:05,919
Speaker 1: Like you said, with the micrology, you're just pulling this

422
00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:09,040
Speaker 1: stuff off. But ultimately what you want to do is

423
00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:12,120
Speaker 1: end up with a paste, with an algae paste. Yeah,

424
00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:14,919
Speaker 1: that's the good stuff, that's the real good stuff. So

425
00:25:14,960 --> 00:25:17,800
Speaker 1: in order to do that, you need to obviously you

426
00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:20,720
Speaker 1: need to remove the moisture um and that will leave

427
00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:27,800
Speaker 1: you with this dense biomastic paste um. Micro Algae presents

428
00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:30,000
Speaker 1: a unique problem, like you said, because it's just like

429
00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:33,639
Speaker 1: it looks like a bucket of water, green water. So

430
00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:36,080
Speaker 1: it makes sense that one of the methods is filtration.

431
00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:39,280
Speaker 1: You just feed it through a filter and it's got

432
00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:43,880
Speaker 1: the tiniest little membrane that these pores won't fit through

433
00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:48,120
Speaker 1: these algae cells, and so it just filters it out.

434
00:25:48,359 --> 00:25:51,439
Speaker 1: And the problem with that is is probably what you

435
00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:53,320
Speaker 1: would think is it's really easy for that stuff to

436
00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:56,639
Speaker 1: become clogged up. Right. I don't even know why they

437
00:25:56,640 --> 00:26:00,000
Speaker 1: would try this. It would just clog immediately, you know. Yeah,

438
00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:02,280
Speaker 1: but I'm sure it's not I'm sure it takes out

439
00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:07,440
Speaker 1: a consideration with its design. Sure, I guess you want

440
00:26:07,440 --> 00:26:11,920
Speaker 1: to talk about flaculation. Flaculation that sounds dirty. It really does.

441
00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:16,240
Speaker 1: It's not, though. It's just basically clumping algae. Like some

442
00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:19,760
Speaker 1: algae naturally clumps, but not necessarily the algae you want.

443
00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:23,760
Speaker 1: So if you throw in the algae that clumps with

444
00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:26,080
Speaker 1: the algae you want, it can make the other algae clump.

445
00:26:26,119 --> 00:26:28,880
Speaker 1: There's also chemicals that will make algae clump, and then

446
00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:32,920
Speaker 1: you're basically taking micro algay and and converting it into

447
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:36,960
Speaker 1: something you can manipulate like a macro algae. So that helps.

448
00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:40,800
Speaker 1: That's good, but then now you have microalgae that has

449
00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:43,600
Speaker 1: some sort of clumping chemicals or algae that you don't

450
00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:46,720
Speaker 1: really want mixed in with it. It's not that it's

451
00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:50,199
Speaker 1: not fool proof method, right. And the other problem with

452
00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:52,720
Speaker 1: flocculation is if if you do it too much, you

453
00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:55,920
Speaker 1: will grow hair on your pumps. It's true, it makes

454
00:26:55,960 --> 00:27:00,560
Speaker 1: the saints cry when you flaculate. Uh. Flotation is another

455
00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:03,880
Speaker 1: h is another method. So this is when you use

456
00:27:04,119 --> 00:27:06,960
Speaker 1: compressed air and you put it in the water and

457
00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:10,680
Speaker 1: you bubble it up and that makes things that makes

458
00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:13,160
Speaker 1: the micro algy kind of go to the surface where

459
00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:15,640
Speaker 1: you can just sort of skim it off. Like uh

460
00:27:15,880 --> 00:27:21,560
Speaker 1: like uh like uh foam grit chaff. Well, it's grit

461
00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:25,040
Speaker 1: chaff like you know when you make slow cook Southern

462
00:27:25,119 --> 00:27:28,760
Speaker 1: style grits. Do that. Yeah, yeah, you got you gotta

463
00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:31,480
Speaker 1: rinse it, same with like sushi rice. You rinse it

464
00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:35,720
Speaker 1: in cold water. And that the husk I guess it is.

465
00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:38,640
Speaker 1: I guess it's the husk kind of floats on the top.

466
00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:40,879
Speaker 1: That's starch and you get a little Yeah, you get

467
00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:43,879
Speaker 1: a little strainer and skim that stuff off. If you

468
00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:46,240
Speaker 1: can end up with good soft grits or good soft rice,

469
00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:50,280
Speaker 1: what do you do with the stuff you skim off? Yeah?

470
00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:52,800
Speaker 1: I wonder if there's a use for that. Surely I'll

471
00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:55,680
Speaker 1: bet people feed it to their pigs or something like that. Well,

472
00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:58,800
Speaker 1: there'd be a lot of grits that you're that you're cooking.

473
00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:01,679
Speaker 1: Well no, I mean it's not like you're making the

474
00:28:01,680 --> 00:28:03,960
Speaker 1: grits two feed the pigs, but rather than just throwing

475
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:05,800
Speaker 1: it out to the pig, you know what I mean?

476
00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:09,720
Speaker 1: All Right, there's also chuck I love this one. There's

477
00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:13,640
Speaker 1: also the centrifuge method. Yeah, that makes sense. Just where

478
00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:16,320
Speaker 1: you you get that bucket, but your bucket spins around

479
00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:19,439
Speaker 1: and has tiny holes in it, and it's basically do

480
00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:22,959
Speaker 1: you remember the salad spinner? Remember I've got one. Okay,

481
00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:26,840
Speaker 1: So it's a salad spinner for your microalgy basically, yeah,

482
00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:29,360
Speaker 1: just flings it all to the outside. The thing is,

483
00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:33,119
Speaker 1: unlike your salad spinner, you can't get it at a

484
00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:36,440
Speaker 1: discount Marshall's or t J Max. You probably have to

485
00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:39,080
Speaker 1: build it yourself for buy one. That's very expensive. When

486
00:28:39,160 --> 00:28:43,160
Speaker 1: you start adding the word centrifuge rather than salad spinner,

487
00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:47,200
Speaker 1: the prices automatically goes up. Yeah, and here's the thing.

488
00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:48,880
Speaker 1: The cool thing is you don't have to do just

489
00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:51,720
Speaker 1: one of these. A lot of times. Uh, they might

490
00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:54,720
Speaker 1: be like, well, let's flocculate for a little while, but

491
00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:57,160
Speaker 1: I don't want my palms to grow, Harry, So I

492
00:28:57,280 --> 00:29:01,760
Speaker 1: will then throw it in a centrifuge because I'm drowning

493
00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:05,280
Speaker 1: in VC juice. And they bought me one, Um so

494
00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:08,240
Speaker 1: they can. They can combine methods. Yeah, yeah, yeah, a

495
00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:10,360
Speaker 1: lot of people will combine methods, and I'm sure they

496
00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:13,200
Speaker 1: combine methods out of necessity because none of the methods

497
00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:16,840
Speaker 1: worked by themselves. Yeah, for macro, you'd really just need

498
00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:18,800
Speaker 1: to dry this stuff out and I get the sense

499
00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:21,040
Speaker 1: that a lot of it is sort of the old

500
00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:24,600
Speaker 1: fashioned way just by kind of put like laying it

501
00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:26,840
Speaker 1: out or hanging it out in the sun. Is that

502
00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:30,680
Speaker 1: about right? I would guess, yeah, surely that's the traditional method.

503
00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:32,680
Speaker 1: You know what was the one that we did? Oh,

504
00:29:32,760 --> 00:29:36,680
Speaker 1: coffee coffee beans? Right? Did they just lay those out

505
00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:38,440
Speaker 1: in the sun? Yeah? I think we did a show

506
00:29:38,480 --> 00:29:41,720
Speaker 1: on that, and like the traditional method is just like

507
00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:46,640
Speaker 1: just beans just laid out baking. Am I wrong? Do

508
00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:49,160
Speaker 1: you remember that? I don't remember at this point. I

509
00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:51,800
Speaker 1: just remember that goats eat them, and some people pick

510
00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:53,840
Speaker 1: them out of the goats poop and then sell them

511
00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:58,400
Speaker 1: for a million dollars a pound. Uh. Should we take

512
00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:01,720
Speaker 1: a break? I think so, Charles, all right, well let's

513
00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:05,479
Speaker 1: do Let's do that and then we'll talk about, um,

514
00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:07,680
Speaker 1: some of the many, many uses of algae right after this.

515
00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:35,560
Speaker 1: Oh all right, dude, we're back, Chuck, And I have

516
00:30:35,680 --> 00:30:41,080
Speaker 1: to say, I'm I'm a fan of algae. Now, so

517
00:30:41,240 --> 00:30:43,120
Speaker 1: there's a lot of different things you can use it for.

518
00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:46,959
Speaker 1: We'll talk first about the ways you can use algae

519
00:30:47,040 --> 00:30:50,000
Speaker 1: for fuel. And you might think at first, like, whoa

520
00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:54,120
Speaker 1: are you going to use algae for fuel. Again, that

521
00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:57,920
Speaker 1: energy store that some types of algae, not all algae,

522
00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:01,400
Speaker 1: but some types, and then other types even more than others,

523
00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:05,920
Speaker 1: take the energy that they're converting sunlight, c O two

524
00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:09,920
Speaker 1: and other nutrients into these energy stores they converted as

525
00:31:09,920 --> 00:31:14,080
Speaker 1: an oil within their tiny little single cell body. And

526
00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:16,520
Speaker 1: if you get enough of these single cell bodies together

527
00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:18,960
Speaker 1: in the form of these allergies that you've gotten the

528
00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:24,160
Speaker 1: water out of, you can extract that oil out of it.

529
00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:25,720
Speaker 1: And there's a lot of different ways to do it.

530
00:31:25,760 --> 00:31:28,360
Speaker 1: You can break the cell walls basically what you're trying

531
00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:34,200
Speaker 1: to do, either chemically or shaking or um or physically yea, yeah, physically. Um,

532
00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:36,080
Speaker 1: you could also hit it with some sound waves. There's

533
00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:39,240
Speaker 1: a lot of things you can do and you can't

534
00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:44,320
Speaker 1: some um ted nugent I think really really causes them

535
00:31:44,320 --> 00:31:47,960
Speaker 1: to split open um and then you get the oil.

536
00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:49,840
Speaker 1: So when you take that oil, you then have to

537
00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:52,240
Speaker 1: refine it, and there's depending on what you want to

538
00:31:52,280 --> 00:31:57,040
Speaker 1: do with it, there's different techniques. Yeah, for sure. I

539
00:31:57,040 --> 00:32:01,320
Speaker 1: mean we've been championing the biodiesel, well that's really not true.

540
00:32:01,520 --> 00:32:03,040
Speaker 1: We've been saying it would be great if they could

541
00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:06,080
Speaker 1: figure this out. Uh, and you know the key to

542
00:32:06,320 --> 00:32:08,640
Speaker 1: all this stuff. Anytime we've done anything, We've done other

543
00:32:08,680 --> 00:32:13,720
Speaker 1: episodes on other bio fuels, it's all like it would

544
00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:15,720
Speaker 1: it would be the one of choice if you could

545
00:32:15,760 --> 00:32:17,920
Speaker 1: figure out a way to do it and make the

546
00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:22,240
Speaker 1: most money. That's the only stumbling black every is when

547
00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:25,200
Speaker 1: are you going to get the big companies involved? It's

548
00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:27,600
Speaker 1: when you can say, hey, we've really figured out such

549
00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:32,240
Speaker 1: that it's a genuine threat to um whatever crude oil.

550
00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:36,400
Speaker 1: Well what's crazy is up until very recently um x

551
00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:40,440
Speaker 1: on Mobile and Chevron were both like invested in. So

552
00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:42,560
Speaker 1: I mean the big companies were involved and they all

553
00:32:42,600 --> 00:32:44,920
Speaker 1: just kind of walked away because it wasn't happening like

554
00:32:44,960 --> 00:32:48,920
Speaker 1: in the next ten or twenty years. Yeah. I mean

555
00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:50,600
Speaker 1: you get that in a certain way because they're there

556
00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:53,600
Speaker 1: to make money. But I don't know, sometimes it be

557
00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:55,280
Speaker 1: nice if someone sort of went out on a limb

558
00:32:55,320 --> 00:32:58,320
Speaker 1: and maybe that's how it ends up happening. Well, they are,

559
00:32:58,440 --> 00:33:00,880
Speaker 1: it's the little guys in Hawaii who are doing it,

560
00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:04,080
Speaker 1: you know. So who deserved to be billionaires after this

561
00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:08,160
Speaker 1: for trying to save the earth? Um So we talked

562
00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:10,240
Speaker 1: a little bit about bio diesel. It can also be

563
00:33:10,360 --> 00:33:14,520
Speaker 1: refined uh as an as an additive right for gasoline

564
00:33:14,520 --> 00:33:17,840
Speaker 1: and jet fuel. Yeah. UM. The cool thing about that

565
00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:19,960
Speaker 1: is if you're going to convert it into jet fuel,

566
00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:24,480
Speaker 1: you can actually use existing refineries and that does something

567
00:33:24,560 --> 00:33:28,520
Speaker 1: very important. It cuts down on costs. Right. UM. When

568
00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:34,360
Speaker 1: cellulistic ethanol was huge in like two thousand seven eight two, UM,

569
00:33:34,600 --> 00:33:37,240
Speaker 1: there was a one huge problem with it where if

570
00:33:37,280 --> 00:33:41,680
Speaker 1: you were just pumping pure ethanol through existing pipelines, they

571
00:33:41,680 --> 00:33:44,000
Speaker 1: were gonna wear down in like just a few years.

572
00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:48,520
Speaker 1: That is not true apparently with um refined biodiesel from

573
00:33:48,720 --> 00:33:53,040
Speaker 1: algae or jet fuel from algae, because it does not

574
00:33:53,200 --> 00:33:56,320
Speaker 1: corrode the pipes and it doesn't corrode the systems that

575
00:33:56,360 --> 00:33:58,080
Speaker 1: you used to refine it, so you don't have to

576
00:33:58,120 --> 00:34:02,040
Speaker 1: build entire new pipe lines or entire new refiners. You

577
00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:06,960
Speaker 1: can just switch over to algae at some points. That Yeah,

578
00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:09,719
Speaker 1: that's that's a huge mark in its favor. And I

579
00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:12,600
Speaker 1: think well like seven years ago they actually there was

580
00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:18,640
Speaker 1: a flight from Houston to Chicago an entire commercial jet

581
00:34:19,040 --> 00:34:24,840
Speaker 1: powered by Algil oil, Algil algyl Man. I hate this.

582
00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:30,960
Speaker 1: I guess Algil Algil oil yeah, okay, I would say

583
00:34:30,960 --> 00:34:33,720
Speaker 1: that they delivered the Rangers to get beat by the Cubs.

584
00:34:33,840 --> 00:34:39,359
Speaker 1: But it's not Alga. It's not Alga culture, though, um

585
00:34:39,360 --> 00:34:41,600
Speaker 1: it could be if we if we make it. We

586
00:34:41,640 --> 00:34:44,359
Speaker 1: have a lot of listeners all right. By the way,

587
00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:47,960
Speaker 1: the Houston is the Astros, not the Rangers. Oh where

588
00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:50,200
Speaker 1: do the where do the Rangers player? They out of Dallas.

589
00:34:50,719 --> 00:34:54,920
Speaker 1: It's the Texas Rangers. But they yeah, they're like Dallas

590
00:34:54,960 --> 00:35:00,000
Speaker 1: Metropolitan team. Yeah. Well, sorry Astros fans. And I should

591
00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:01,920
Speaker 1: know that too, because I think they have the greatest

592
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:06,560
Speaker 1: uniform of all time, the seventies one. Oh the orange stripes.

593
00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:13,640
Speaker 1: Man's just beautiful. It was pretty good. So uh okay,

594
00:35:13,640 --> 00:35:15,680
Speaker 1: So you can turn into jet fuel. And I don't

595
00:35:15,680 --> 00:35:18,319
Speaker 1: think we've talked about ethanol really, have we No, And

596
00:35:18,600 --> 00:35:22,040
Speaker 1: so ethanol again, it's basically just breaking down the cellulose

597
00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:25,880
Speaker 1: that remember how you said plants like spend of their

598
00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:29,279
Speaker 1: energy building the structures that support them and let them live.

599
00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:32,400
Speaker 1: If you take those structures and that support them and

600
00:35:32,440 --> 00:35:34,920
Speaker 1: let them live and break them down, you can turn that.

601
00:35:34,920 --> 00:35:38,960
Speaker 1: That's what cellulosic ethanol is. So it's basically plant material

602
00:35:39,440 --> 00:35:42,720
Speaker 1: that those carbohydrates are what they use to build those walls,

603
00:35:42,760 --> 00:35:45,640
Speaker 1: and you can break them down and use them for energy.

604
00:35:45,960 --> 00:35:49,759
Speaker 1: And you can do the same thing with with algae. Two. Yeah,

605
00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:52,560
Speaker 1: and the great size. The great thing is aside from

606
00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:58,239
Speaker 1: the oil because algae, algae is made up from carbohydrates, uh,

607
00:35:58,280 --> 00:36:04,080
Speaker 1: and cellulose. You can actually ferment this stuff into grain alcohol. Yeah,

608
00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:08,600
Speaker 1: and that tastes like, I don't know, like seaweed that

609
00:36:08,680 --> 00:36:12,480
Speaker 1: gets you wasted. I don't know. I would try it, sure,

610
00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:15,800
Speaker 1: um you mean? And I were coming back from hilton

611
00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:18,880
Speaker 1: Had this past weekend and there was a billboard for

612
00:36:19,120 --> 00:36:23,640
Speaker 1: a liquor store outside of Savannah, and um, it said

613
00:36:25,360 --> 00:36:29,880
Speaker 1: it's a corn whiskey but in the um Coca cola

614
00:36:29,960 --> 00:36:34,239
Speaker 1: font for some inexplicable wreaths. Oh really Yeah. It was

615
00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:37,279
Speaker 1: really weird to see, was how it's hilton Head. It

616
00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:40,160
Speaker 1: was it storm ravaged or not. It must have hit

617
00:36:40,239 --> 00:36:43,200
Speaker 1: above it because it was totally fine, beautiful, not a

618
00:36:43,640 --> 00:36:47,280
Speaker 1: not a leaf out of place. And you know, because

619
00:36:47,280 --> 00:36:50,160
Speaker 1: of your hilton Head leaf turtle. I counted them before,

620
00:36:53,040 --> 00:36:55,279
Speaker 1: you mean, they're all here, They're all like they're all

621
00:36:55,320 --> 00:36:58,040
Speaker 1: president account of for all right, be back in six

622
00:36:58,080 --> 00:37:03,120
Speaker 1: months right, no, and move. Uh. And the methane I

623
00:37:03,160 --> 00:37:06,960
Speaker 1: think is the final uh, one of the final uses. Um,

624
00:37:07,040 --> 00:37:10,480
Speaker 1: everyone knows. We talked about methane plenty, that's one of

625
00:37:10,480 --> 00:37:13,640
Speaker 1: the main ingredients and natural gas, and it's you know,

626
00:37:13,719 --> 00:37:17,560
Speaker 1: it's it's uh, it's what cows make when they when

627
00:37:17,560 --> 00:37:20,919
Speaker 1: they have a twoty booty. It is. And it says

628
00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:25,120
Speaker 1: here that it's um that it's a clean fuel that

629
00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:27,600
Speaker 1: I don't understand that at all. Methane is like one

630
00:37:27,600 --> 00:37:31,040
Speaker 1: of the worst greenhouse gases there are. There's it's worse

631
00:37:31,080 --> 00:37:35,919
Speaker 1: than carbon dioxide as far as trapping heat. It's it's

632
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:38,880
Speaker 1: just there's less of it than carbon dioxide. I just

633
00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:41,080
Speaker 1: thought that was really weird. But the thing I love

634
00:37:41,120 --> 00:37:45,840
Speaker 1: about producing methane through algae is that you're not actually

635
00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:49,840
Speaker 1: using the algae. You're actual you are using the algae.

636
00:37:49,840 --> 00:37:53,480
Speaker 1: You're using the algae as a feedstock for bacteria. Because

637
00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:57,560
Speaker 1: when bacteria consume algae, they produce methane. So you're taking

638
00:37:57,560 --> 00:38:01,640
Speaker 1: the algae and feeding it to bacteria. It's seems pretty

639
00:38:01,640 --> 00:38:06,640
Speaker 1: cold and calculating, perfect for an oil company. Uh. Yeah,

640
00:38:06,719 --> 00:38:09,520
Speaker 1: that's a good point. Um. We also talked earlier. I

641
00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:12,359
Speaker 1: think I teased out that you can that algae even

642
00:38:12,400 --> 00:38:16,239
Speaker 1: loves really gross polluted water. Um. It thrives in polluted water,

643
00:38:16,920 --> 00:38:20,120
Speaker 1: So they could use it potentially, and I think they

644
00:38:20,160 --> 00:38:23,040
Speaker 1: maybe or are they They are they're using it for

645
00:38:23,080 --> 00:38:26,400
Speaker 1: wastewater treatment in in certain places. Yes, you can use

646
00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:29,479
Speaker 1: it for wastewater treatment. They're using it. I think there's

647
00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:33,600
Speaker 1: an experiment in an old tin mine in Cornwall in

648
00:38:33,600 --> 00:38:39,080
Speaker 1: the UK where um they have they've added some algae

649
00:38:39,200 --> 00:38:42,680
Speaker 1: to see if they can bio remediate the cadmium and

650
00:38:42,719 --> 00:38:45,879
Speaker 1: the arsenic in the water that's flooded the mine. And

651
00:38:46,640 --> 00:38:49,880
Speaker 1: the great thing about algae is some of it just

652
00:38:49,960 --> 00:38:52,920
Speaker 1: absorbs heavy metals and pollutants. It just absorbs it and

653
00:38:52,960 --> 00:38:55,399
Speaker 1: hangs onto it and then you go, um, just put

654
00:38:55,480 --> 00:38:57,839
Speaker 1: it away for a billion years or something like that.

655
00:38:58,120 --> 00:39:00,279
Speaker 1: You know, it just kind of sucks it up. There's

656
00:39:00,320 --> 00:39:04,719
Speaker 1: actually use the stuff too for metabolism, so it will

657
00:39:04,760 --> 00:39:08,640
Speaker 1: break down a heavy metal like cadmium that's toxic to

658
00:39:08,760 --> 00:39:12,319
Speaker 1: us into something that's totally inert to us, which is

659
00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:16,680
Speaker 1: just mind bogglingly wonderful. So they're starting to really really

660
00:39:16,760 --> 00:39:19,160
Speaker 1: kind of look into the idea of using again there's

661
00:39:19,200 --> 00:39:22,319
Speaker 1: like a hundred thousand different strains of algae to using

662
00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:25,080
Speaker 1: some of them for bioremediation, which is a huge plus

663
00:39:25,160 --> 00:39:29,120
Speaker 1: because right now we use chemicals to stop up chemicals. Um.

664
00:39:29,160 --> 00:39:31,920
Speaker 1: Another thing you can use algae for is for oil spills,

665
00:39:32,880 --> 00:39:36,880
Speaker 1: and there's something called herders herder chemicals, which if you

666
00:39:36,960 --> 00:39:41,080
Speaker 1: add to an oil spill, it actually moves them together

667
00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:43,920
Speaker 1: and turns it from this little thin sheen on the

668
00:39:43,960 --> 00:39:47,400
Speaker 1: ocean into a much more concentrated, thicker sheen that you

669
00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:50,560
Speaker 1: can actually skim off or burn or something. Well, there's

670
00:39:50,600 --> 00:39:53,280
Speaker 1: types of algae that do that too. But the plus

671
00:39:53,320 --> 00:39:57,480
Speaker 1: of algae is that it's not some chemical that stays

672
00:39:57,520 --> 00:39:59,960
Speaker 1: in the environment like the stuff we currently use. The

673
00:40:00,040 --> 00:40:02,719
Speaker 1: chemicals we currently use that we're not quite sure what

674
00:40:02,760 --> 00:40:05,560
Speaker 1: the long term effects are, right, Like, okay, no more oil,

675
00:40:05,600 --> 00:40:07,719
Speaker 1: but now we've got this unknown or not unknown, but

676
00:40:07,760 --> 00:40:12,120
Speaker 1: a chemical with unknown uh damage down the line, just

677
00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:14,799
Speaker 1: replacing the oil. Right with algae, that's not the case.

678
00:40:14,840 --> 00:40:17,480
Speaker 1: We know what algae will do. We're pretty much I mean,

679
00:40:17,520 --> 00:40:20,480
Speaker 1: I'm sure there's invasive species situations that we could accidentally

680
00:40:20,520 --> 00:40:23,759
Speaker 1: get ourselves into, but that's that's the last thing you're

681
00:40:23,760 --> 00:40:25,880
Speaker 1: thinking of when you're cleaning up an oil spill, you

682
00:40:25,880 --> 00:40:28,319
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, And that baby penguin comes over,

683
00:40:28,360 --> 00:40:32,160
Speaker 1: it's like help me please. Uh. And then earlier in

684
00:40:32,200 --> 00:40:35,720
Speaker 1: the show, you know, I talked about the the quote

685
00:40:35,840 --> 00:40:41,600
Speaker 1: unquote waste product we're talking about if you're extracting that oil,

686
00:40:42,120 --> 00:40:44,319
Speaker 1: what you have left over after you've squeezed all that

687
00:40:44,400 --> 00:40:47,680
Speaker 1: oil out of it, you can use that as fertilizer

688
00:40:48,160 --> 00:40:52,000
Speaker 1: or as a supplement for animal feed. Um. And that's

689
00:40:52,120 --> 00:40:56,200
Speaker 1: that's the leftover, even if you're not using it for biofuels. Uh,

690
00:40:56,200 --> 00:40:59,960
Speaker 1: it's really good for you. Like humans eat it, cattle

691
00:41:00,040 --> 00:41:04,040
Speaker 1: eats it, marine like shrimp and shellfish love the stuff.

692
00:41:04,120 --> 00:41:07,439
Speaker 1: It is chocked like if you're talking about spiro lena,

693
00:41:08,200 --> 00:41:16,360
Speaker 1: it is chock full of protein, omega three, fatty acids, vitamins, iron, beta, carotene.

694
00:41:16,880 --> 00:41:20,040
Speaker 1: I think it's got more protein than meat. So for

695
00:41:20,120 --> 00:41:24,240
Speaker 1: a hundred grams U, spir lena has fifty seven grams

696
00:41:24,239 --> 00:41:27,880
Speaker 1: of protein, steak has twenty five grams of protein. Amazing,

697
00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:31,000
Speaker 1: And spilena has a hundred and fifty eight percent of

698
00:41:31,040 --> 00:41:34,480
Speaker 1: your daily iron. Uh, Steak has thirteen percent of it

699
00:41:34,520 --> 00:41:37,000
Speaker 1: and steaks like a high iron food. I believe spir

700
00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:40,439
Speaker 1: lena has far more iron than spinach. Even it also

701
00:41:40,480 --> 00:41:43,000
Speaker 1: has tons of calcium like you said omega three's and

702
00:41:43,040 --> 00:41:45,480
Speaker 1: like I think, in the seventies the un called it

703
00:41:45,520 --> 00:41:48,759
Speaker 1: a super food of the future, and it is extremely

704
00:41:48,800 --> 00:41:51,200
Speaker 1: good for you. But again, the idea of calling it

705
00:41:51,719 --> 00:41:54,000
Speaker 1: super food of the future is kind of ironic because

706
00:41:54,440 --> 00:41:57,719
Speaker 1: in the sixteenth century the Aztecs were eating it as

707
00:41:57,800 --> 00:42:01,120
Speaker 1: little cakes of spar lena um. The Welsh have been

708
00:42:01,160 --> 00:42:05,560
Speaker 1: eating something called lava bread, which is um just basically

709
00:42:05,600 --> 00:42:11,080
Speaker 1: spiraling an algae on toast. Um so good. I want

710
00:42:11,120 --> 00:42:14,799
Speaker 1: to try it. It looks it looks like overcooked, overcooked

711
00:42:14,840 --> 00:42:17,640
Speaker 1: mass of spinach um. But they say, like you can

712
00:42:17,680 --> 00:42:21,600
Speaker 1: tell like the different teroirs depending on where it was harvested.

713
00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:25,160
Speaker 1: But I I would love to try that. Yeah, And

714
00:42:25,360 --> 00:42:27,880
Speaker 1: you mentioned very early on the reason that um, I

715
00:42:27,920 --> 00:42:31,360
Speaker 1: guess people like Exxon have put it on hold. You

716
00:42:31,480 --> 00:42:34,880
Speaker 1: sent this great article where I would figure the limitation

717
00:42:34,920 --> 00:42:37,600
Speaker 1: would be like, well, it's in the processing, it's too expensive,

718
00:42:37,680 --> 00:42:40,640
Speaker 1: or we haven't figured it out yet. Apparently what's sort

719
00:42:40,680 --> 00:42:43,920
Speaker 1: of the big hold up is in the biology itself.

720
00:42:44,600 --> 00:42:48,920
Speaker 1: It's just um, I think it just you need too

721
00:42:49,040 --> 00:42:54,560
Speaker 1: much of it to go to scale. Is that about right? Yeah? Yeah,

722
00:42:54,719 --> 00:42:57,840
Speaker 1: Because here's the problem the stuff. If you're growing it

723
00:42:57,920 --> 00:43:01,399
Speaker 1: in a flask and a lab, it really does like

724
00:43:01,480 --> 00:43:04,640
Speaker 1: all this amazing stuff that people are saying. The problem

725
00:43:04,719 --> 00:43:08,600
Speaker 1: is when you extrapolate that into the real world, real world,

726
00:43:08,680 --> 00:43:11,560
Speaker 1: real world conditions kind of start to take over and

727
00:43:11,600 --> 00:43:15,040
Speaker 1: it doesn't necessarily translate like it should. Um. And one

728
00:43:15,040 --> 00:43:16,920
Speaker 1: of the big things they ran into is when you

729
00:43:16,960 --> 00:43:20,080
Speaker 1: start getting algae on a massive scale, when you start

730
00:43:20,080 --> 00:43:23,279
Speaker 1: growing it on an industrial scale, the algae starts to

731
00:43:23,280 --> 00:43:27,160
Speaker 1: compete with other algae for things like sunlight and nutrients.

732
00:43:27,239 --> 00:43:30,160
Speaker 1: So you're left with well, then that means let's say

733
00:43:30,200 --> 00:43:34,520
Speaker 1: that's having the um the amount of algae I'm trying

734
00:43:34,520 --> 00:43:38,360
Speaker 1: to grow, or the amount of oil I'm trying to harvest.

735
00:43:38,600 --> 00:43:40,680
Speaker 1: That means I have to double the surface area of

736
00:43:40,680 --> 00:43:43,240
Speaker 1: the pond. I have to grow twice as much algae

737
00:43:43,280 --> 00:43:46,600
Speaker 1: as I thought. And there was some some prediction I

738
00:43:46,640 --> 00:43:50,440
Speaker 1: think a few years ago that bioalgabe or biodiesel form

739
00:43:50,440 --> 00:43:53,960
Speaker 1: algae or biofuel would be running about ten percent of

740
00:43:54,040 --> 00:43:58,960
Speaker 1: the euse um transportation sector, which is just an enormous amount.

741
00:43:59,000 --> 00:44:01,160
Speaker 1: That would be amazing if they could do that, But

742
00:44:01,239 --> 00:44:04,160
Speaker 1: they found that Um, for that to happen, you would

743
00:44:04,200 --> 00:44:08,640
Speaker 1: need a pond. Basically, they about three times the size

744
00:44:08,640 --> 00:44:11,240
Speaker 1: of Belgium to grow that much algae as it stands

745
00:44:11,320 --> 00:44:13,560
Speaker 1: right now. So again that's not to say that like

746
00:44:13,600 --> 00:44:16,000
Speaker 1: it's just never gonna happen. It's just well, here's a

747
00:44:16,040 --> 00:44:18,160
Speaker 1: really big wall that we've hit. Now, let's figure out

748
00:44:18,200 --> 00:44:20,960
Speaker 1: how to get over it. Because Algie really could do this.

749
00:44:22,120 --> 00:44:25,520
Speaker 1: Yeah for sure, Um, you just need upon three times

750
00:44:25,560 --> 00:44:28,400
Speaker 1: the size of Belgium. But here's the thing is, maybe

751
00:44:28,440 --> 00:44:32,359
Speaker 1: don't like baby step it, you know, Yeah, I think

752
00:44:32,520 --> 00:44:35,920
Speaker 1: what about upon the size of just one Belgium and

753
00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:39,879
Speaker 1: not three belgiums Now, we said Belgium so many times

754
00:44:39,920 --> 00:44:43,640
Speaker 1: it sounds funny. Well, we could just flood Belgium. Oh man,

755
00:44:44,600 --> 00:44:48,120
Speaker 1: it would be so mean Belgium lovely. They've been asking

756
00:44:48,160 --> 00:44:52,759
Speaker 1: for it for years though, Uh, what's this other one here?

757
00:44:52,800 --> 00:44:57,799
Speaker 1: In two thousand and ten, Um, a scientist based at

758
00:44:59,120 --> 00:45:06,760
Speaker 1: Again Again University, I bet they don't have a mascot

759
00:45:08,320 --> 00:45:14,480
Speaker 1: the Flying Tongue Twisters. They published findings that suggested an

760
00:45:14,520 --> 00:45:19,440
Speaker 1: area about the size of the state of Maryland. H

761
00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:22,520
Speaker 1: if it was sea lettuce, you could provide enough protein

762
00:45:22,560 --> 00:45:27,080
Speaker 1: to feed the entire human population. Yeah, that's pretty impressive.

763
00:45:27,280 --> 00:45:31,399
Speaker 1: But it's sea lettuce. Yeah, I mean yeah, I would try.

764
00:45:31,480 --> 00:45:33,560
Speaker 1: I've never had sea lettuce as far as I know, No,

765
00:45:33,719 --> 00:45:36,279
Speaker 1: I would try to. It's just the article does say that, like,

766
00:45:36,360 --> 00:45:38,600
Speaker 1: you know, part of the problem then is like convincing

767
00:45:38,600 --> 00:45:40,640
Speaker 1: everyone to eat sea lettuce all the time. And it's

768
00:45:40,680 --> 00:45:43,320
Speaker 1: absolutely true. I mean, it'd be foolish to think otherwise,

769
00:45:43,360 --> 00:45:45,480
Speaker 1: you know. But if you're trying to solve world hunger,

770
00:45:45,520 --> 00:45:48,560
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, well that's the thing you could

771
00:45:48,560 --> 00:45:51,280
Speaker 1: also and a lot of people use spear lena powder

772
00:45:51,400 --> 00:45:54,040
Speaker 1: is like a dietary supplement because it's so good for

773
00:45:54,080 --> 00:45:57,520
Speaker 1: you and it's so energy dense. Um. But there are

774
00:45:57,680 --> 00:45:59,799
Speaker 1: there's also there's a couple of other things I wanted

775
00:45:59,840 --> 00:46:03,720
Speaker 1: to mentioned that before we leave. Um about the the

776
00:46:03,840 --> 00:46:09,160
Speaker 1: kind of greenness of algae. One, it's carbon neutral. I

777
00:46:09,160 --> 00:46:12,960
Speaker 1: don't think we said that. But the the CEO two

778
00:46:13,000 --> 00:46:16,279
Speaker 1: that um, the algae uses to produce it to do

779
00:46:16,400 --> 00:46:18,799
Speaker 1: its thing, and it's actually sucking it right out of

780
00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:22,399
Speaker 1: the air, so it releases c O two when it's

781
00:46:22,440 --> 00:46:25,880
Speaker 1: burned as biofuel. But that CEO two was just in

782
00:46:25,920 --> 00:46:28,560
Speaker 1: the air like a month ago, so it's not like

783
00:46:28,600 --> 00:46:32,720
Speaker 1: it's coming from a sequestered sink of c O two.

784
00:46:32,760 --> 00:46:35,160
Speaker 1: Like fossil fuels that we dig up that are not

785
00:46:35,320 --> 00:46:38,400
Speaker 1: part of the carbon cycle right then, that we're actually

786
00:46:38,400 --> 00:46:40,200
Speaker 1: adding to their So it would make it a carbon

787
00:46:40,239 --> 00:46:43,239
Speaker 1: neutral thing. And then the other thing, if we replaced

788
00:46:43,400 --> 00:46:48,359
Speaker 1: soy um with algae, livestock and fish feed, we would

789
00:46:48,400 --> 00:46:51,640
Speaker 1: no longer have to do any wild caught fish because

790
00:46:51,640 --> 00:46:55,080
Speaker 1: apparently they go out and catch wild fish, grind them

791
00:46:55,160 --> 00:46:57,840
Speaker 1: up and feed them to farmed fish as as feed

792
00:46:58,120 --> 00:47:01,680
Speaker 1: to get the omega three's. If just supplemented that with algae,

793
00:47:01,719 --> 00:47:04,640
Speaker 1: we wouldn't have to catch any wildfish whatsoever. And then

794
00:47:04,680 --> 00:47:08,839
Speaker 1: if we replaced cattle feed um uh made of soy

795
00:47:08,960 --> 00:47:11,200
Speaker 1: with algae, we wouldn't have to cut down forests to

796
00:47:11,280 --> 00:47:14,799
Speaker 1: grow soy to feed the cattle on. Yeah, so it

797
00:47:14,840 --> 00:47:17,239
Speaker 1: could be. I mean, if we if we really just

798
00:47:17,320 --> 00:47:19,520
Speaker 1: keep looking at algae and don't walk away from it,

799
00:47:19,520 --> 00:47:23,240
Speaker 1: don't walk away from algae. There's a bright future ahead

800
00:47:23,280 --> 00:47:25,840
Speaker 1: of us with it. There's so much, so much promise.

801
00:47:25,880 --> 00:47:30,120
Speaker 1: Analogaye baby. Yeah, there's a lake in Georgia that I

802
00:47:30,160 --> 00:47:32,759
Speaker 1: go to a lot and there um has been. I'm

803
00:47:32,760 --> 00:47:35,680
Speaker 1: a member of the Facebook page where people complain about stuff.

804
00:47:35,719 --> 00:47:38,359
Speaker 1: Basically sure, yeah, it's what most of those are for.

805
00:47:38,960 --> 00:47:41,640
Speaker 1: Uh And a lot of people are complaining about these

806
00:47:41,719 --> 00:47:45,759
Speaker 1: grasses in the lake now and algae blooms and they're

807
00:47:46,239 --> 00:47:49,719
Speaker 1: spraying chemicals in the lake to get rid of the stuff. No,

808
00:47:50,040 --> 00:47:52,160
Speaker 1: and and it's a Georgia power lake, so they have

809
00:47:52,760 --> 00:47:57,200
Speaker 1: uh like an approved list of vendors that will do this. Um.

810
00:47:57,239 --> 00:47:59,360
Speaker 1: And my whole thought is like, if there's an algae bloom,

811
00:47:59,400 --> 00:48:02,040
Speaker 1: it's like, isn't that nature trying to work something out?

812
00:48:02,880 --> 00:48:06,560
Speaker 1: I think that's nature trying to work out fertilizer runoff.

813
00:48:06,800 --> 00:48:10,399
Speaker 1: So the problem isn't Like, the problem isn't in the lake.

814
00:48:10,480 --> 00:48:14,080
Speaker 1: It's up on land somewhere and some like farm that's

815
00:48:14,120 --> 00:48:16,960
Speaker 1: just using too much fertilizer. But I mean that's what

816
00:48:17,000 --> 00:48:18,640
Speaker 1: my whole point though, is that like the algae is

817
00:48:18,680 --> 00:48:21,480
Speaker 1: there for a reason. Yeah, right, it's not just there

818
00:48:21,520 --> 00:48:26,640
Speaker 1: too to chick off a jet skier. Right. It's kind

819
00:48:26,680 --> 00:48:31,920
Speaker 1: of like if you've um like hit your knee on something,

820
00:48:32,560 --> 00:48:34,319
Speaker 1: just cutting your leg off, so you don't have any

821
00:48:34,320 --> 00:48:39,239
Speaker 1: more knee pain. That's basically what the people at that

822
00:48:39,360 --> 00:48:43,640
Speaker 1: lake are doing. Yeah, it's not the best analogy ever,

823
00:48:43,719 --> 00:48:47,840
Speaker 1: but I'm alright with it. Like it you got anything else? No,

824
00:48:48,160 --> 00:48:50,680
Speaker 1: up with algae? Up with algae? I like ones like

825
00:48:50,719 --> 00:48:53,000
Speaker 1: this because we're basically just like, what about this? Oh? Yeah,

826
00:48:53,040 --> 00:48:56,440
Speaker 1: what about this? What about that? Yeah? And we always

827
00:48:56,440 --> 00:49:00,560
Speaker 1: have the rosiest colored glasses, which you know, if that's

828
00:49:00,560 --> 00:49:03,480
Speaker 1: our fault, I'll take it. Yeah, I'm with you, ma'nuh.

829
00:49:03,560 --> 00:49:06,320
Speaker 1: If you want to know more about algae ghost swimming.

830
00:49:06,760 --> 00:49:08,959
Speaker 1: And since I said that, it's time for a listener mail,

831
00:49:11,200 --> 00:49:13,640
Speaker 1: I'm gonna call this flying by the seat of my

832
00:49:13,680 --> 00:49:16,720
Speaker 1: pants and just pulling up an email. Oh that's good stuff.

833
00:49:17,480 --> 00:49:19,640
Speaker 1: This is on color blindness. Though. It's a good one

834
00:49:19,719 --> 00:49:22,960
Speaker 1: and it has a picture of a cat. So hey, guys,

835
00:49:23,000 --> 00:49:24,799
Speaker 1: my dad has color blindness and it has led to

836
00:49:24,800 --> 00:49:27,720
Speaker 1: a few embarrassing mishaps in his life. This past weekend,

837
00:49:27,760 --> 00:49:32,080
Speaker 1: my brother got married. Congratulations Peter and Jackie, she says,

838
00:49:32,560 --> 00:49:35,320
Speaker 1: and all the men were supposed to wear blue suits. However,

839
00:49:35,800 --> 00:49:40,000
Speaker 1: my dad couldn't tell the difference between the colors, and

840
00:49:40,040 --> 00:49:43,040
Speaker 1: he packed his black suit. Uh. I wonder why your

841
00:49:43,080 --> 00:49:45,120
Speaker 1: dad didn't get help at this point with something that's

842
00:49:45,120 --> 00:49:48,080
Speaker 1: big because dad doesn't care that much. I think you're right,

843
00:49:48,800 --> 00:49:51,239
Speaker 1: and nor should he. Uh. Not a huge deal, but

844
00:49:51,320 --> 00:49:53,800
Speaker 1: he definitely stands out in the pictures. Uh. The story

845
00:49:53,800 --> 00:49:55,120
Speaker 1: that cracks me up the most, though, is that I

846
00:49:55,160 --> 00:49:58,279
Speaker 1: have an orange cat with matching amber eyes. My dad

847
00:49:58,320 --> 00:50:01,240
Speaker 1: likes to say how he has most beautiful green eyes,

848
00:50:02,080 --> 00:50:04,520
Speaker 1: and I really want to ask if he thinks my

849
00:50:04,600 --> 00:50:08,360
Speaker 1: cat looks like the Grinch. So I attached a picture

850
00:50:08,680 --> 00:50:12,680
Speaker 1: of Raja so you can see how his eyes matches. Uh.

851
00:50:12,719 --> 00:50:15,600
Speaker 1: For and that is one cute cat. Look at that

852
00:50:15,960 --> 00:50:21,919
Speaker 1: sure little fake mouse in his mouth? Nothing green about it, no, uh?

853
00:50:21,960 --> 00:50:24,640
Speaker 1: And she also finishes with like you mentioned, my mom

854
00:50:24,680 --> 00:50:27,560
Speaker 1: has always done the grilling because my dad says he

855
00:50:27,600 --> 00:50:30,960
Speaker 1: can't tell when it's done or burning. So there's a

856
00:50:30,960 --> 00:50:33,120
Speaker 1: mom around some mom you should have. Or maybe she

857
00:50:33,200 --> 00:50:35,520
Speaker 1: knew about the suit color and just didn't wanted to

858
00:50:35,520 --> 00:50:38,319
Speaker 1: embarrass her husband. I think so. Or just didn't really

859
00:50:38,360 --> 00:50:41,960
Speaker 1: like the group, the groom or the bride, I don't know.

860
00:50:42,080 --> 00:50:46,080
Speaker 1: Somebody did not somebody else in this wedding, I think

861
00:50:46,239 --> 00:50:48,480
Speaker 1: is what happened here. Well, that cat doesn't like that

862
00:50:48,560 --> 00:50:50,959
Speaker 1: fake mouse. I'll tell you that. It's funny. The cat

863
00:50:51,120 --> 00:50:53,319
Speaker 1: is like holding a fake mouse, but it looks like

864
00:50:53,360 --> 00:50:56,920
Speaker 1: it's looking at a real mouse. Of camera. It's a

865
00:50:56,920 --> 00:51:00,000
Speaker 1: good picture. It's got a cat condo and everything. Uh

866
00:51:00,000 --> 00:51:03,680
Speaker 1: and she finishes. Thanks for the relatable episode. Um, that

867
00:51:03,880 --> 00:51:07,799
Speaker 1: is from Andy. That's from Andy. All right, Andy, thanks

868
00:51:07,800 --> 00:51:10,880
Speaker 1: a lot for that. Um. Well, appreciate you writing in.

869
00:51:11,040 --> 00:51:16,600
Speaker 1: Good luck with your family. Yes, and Peter and Jackie,

870
00:51:16,719 --> 00:51:19,520
Speaker 1: way to go and get married. Yeah. If you want

871
00:51:19,600 --> 00:51:20,880
Speaker 1: to get in touch with us to let us know

872
00:51:21,000 --> 00:51:23,960
Speaker 1: hilarious family story, we love those. You can go to

873
00:51:24,000 --> 00:51:28,240
Speaker 1: our website www. Dot stuff you should know dot com

874
00:51:28,280 --> 00:51:30,960
Speaker 1: and find all the links to our social media accounts.

875
00:51:31,560 --> 00:51:33,880
Speaker 1: You can find us there, or you can send us

876
00:51:33,880 --> 00:51:42,840
Speaker 1: an email to stuff podcast how stuff works dot com

877
00:51:42,880 --> 00:51:45,319
Speaker 1: for more on this and thousands of other topics. Is

878
00:51:45,320 --> 00:51:53,880
Speaker 1: it how stuff works dot com