Mitigating Chesapeake Bay Pollution by Making Algae Biodiesel - Blue Living Ideas

Mitigating Chesapeake Bay Pollution by Making Algae Biodiesel

Posted on Oct 08, 2009 by Jennifer Lance.

The Chesapeake Bay has long been plagued by pollution, and in fact a large portion has been declared a “marine dead zone“.  This largest estuary in the United States is fed by 11 large rivers that contain run-off, which deplete the water of oxygen and are responsible for large algal blooms.  The York River, which flows into the western side of the Chesapeake Bay through Virginia, is about to be cleaned up using a unique approach:  trap nitrogen and phosphorus in the river, use it to feed algal blooms, then convert the algae to biodiesel. 
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Annoying Sharks Used to Make Biodiesel in Greenland

Posted on Jul 30, 2009 by Jennifer Lance.

Parts of Greenland have a shark problem. When I think of sharks, I inevitably jump to images of Jaws, but the trouble with the Greenland shark is not the makings of Hollywood. Slim Allagui writes from Sisimuit, Greenland:

The Greenland shark, one of the largest species of sharks, is a nuisance to fishermen and its meat is toxic to humans, but researchers now hope the flesh can be used to create a biofuel for Inuits.  Native to the cold Arctic waters, thousands of the sharks get caught and die in fishermen’s nets off Greenland every year.

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Biofuel’s Heavy Water Footprint Threatens Regional Water Supplies

Posted on Apr 30, 2009 by Jennifer Lance.

Biofuels, especially ethanol, have come under criticism for raising the price of food and contributing to the overuse of antibiotics; however, there is a new concern that biofuel production is negatively impacting regional water supplies. A recent study in the journal Environmental Science & Technology reports that to produce a gallon of ethanol in some regions of the US it takes as much as 2,100 gallons of water from farm to fuel pump.
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