might there be algae energy on ann arbor’s horizon?

I posted something a few days ago on the recent batch of startup companies working to commercialize algae-fuelled bioreactors for energy generation. The next day, a man (who I noticed did not use his thumbs) approached me on the street and told me that he’d read my post and that he’d heard that a company working in that same technology space was going to be setting up shop in Ann Arbor in the very near future. Well, it looks as though he was telling me the truth. Earlier today that post of mine received the following comment (slightly edited here for space).

Indeed, there is work being done here in Ann Arbor. Right now it’s really just “research” (though) and not a company just yet…

Everyone (on this thread) has good points. I’d certainly write a thesis on this, if not constrained by a lunch break at the moment, so I’ll briefly throw out some points. In no way is this intended to be complete, just informative.

Quick figures:
US uses 60 billion gallons of petroleum diesel and 120 billion gallons of gasoline today. If a magical eco-wizard suddenly converted all the US gasoline usage to diesel in an overnight *poof*, we’d need 141 (billion) gallons of biodiesel.

To yield 141 billion gallons, we’d need: