Green Options » cyanobacteria

US Arpa-E Funding Enlisting Cyanobacteria to Make Fuel For Humans

Susan Kraemer — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:18:24 +0000

We are actually the second planet-altering species. Three billion years ago, Cyanobacteria were the first. They totally changed this planet to one that is safe for oxygen breathers. That was a big change for species at the time, and most species didn’t make it. Nearly all of them went extinct.

If we’re lucky, we won’t change our environment as much as Cyanobacteria did. That’s the goal of the US Department of Energy ARPA-E. Inspired by the success of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; ARPA-E will fund high-risk, high-reward advances with the potential to completely change the way our species generates and consumes energy.

Arizona State’s Wim Vermass was of the 37 recipients of the DOE ARPA-E funding. He is teaching the ancient species to make our future fuel and to custom-make it just the way our species wants it.

Ancient Rock Find Supports Early Date for First Photosynthetic Life

Michael Ricciardi — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:47:44 +0000

Diagram of a typical Prokaryotic microbe

At some point in the geologic history of this planet, primitive, unicellular organisms (prokaryotes) emerged and proliferated. These primitive microbes were able to harness the Sun’s energy and convert it to food. The metabolic “waste product” of this photosynthetic (light-making) activity–Oxygen (O)–filled the Earth’s atmosphere over the course of vast time scales. This is sometimes referred to as the Great Oxidation Event (GOE). This geologically long event enabled the “explosion” of oxygen-breathing life forms in nearly every environment where it was present.

However, the precise date (within a few million years or so) of this event has been a point of contention amongst scientists for decades. Most have held that such life did not emerge until (no earlier than) 2.4 billion years ago. A few have radically asserted an even earlier date of nearly three and half billion years ago.

Cyanobacteria: The Next Big Biofuel?

Ariel Schwartz — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:08:26 +0000

Could cyanobacteria eventually become a more popular biofuel than corn, sugarcane, or even algae? Quite possibly. According to Science Daily, cyanobacteria can convert up to 10 percent of the sun’s energy into biomass.

This is a drastic improvement over the 1 percent rate of crops like corn and sugarcane, as well as the 5 percent rate of algae. With such a high conversion rate, cyanobacteria could replace a hefty amount of fossil fuels without taking up too much land.