Does the price of oil have to rise dramatically before something like algae-derived biofuels can take off?
Konrad: With algae, a lot of it is technology. It’s going to be a function of two things. The price of algae will drop, but it’s pretty capital intensive, so it’s always going to be expensive. I come back to the energy return on investment, or, how much energy are you putting in to get some out? And for most renewable – wind, solar, etc. – you only get 3 to 5 times as much energy out as you put in. Now historically, with oil, that’s been as high as 100. But these days, it’s dropping into the single digits. So as those two numbers come to be about the same, then you’ll tend to reach price parity too. Crigger: Why is algae the only biofuel that has a chance to displace oil on a large scale? What about ethanol? Konrad: Ethanol is limited by corn. There’s an upper limit on corn ethanol because there’s an upper limit on corn production. We’re near it already, and once we hit it, that’s it. That’s all you’re going to get, unless you plant more corn – which we don’t have land for. Maybe there
