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For the Biofuel movement to flourish it will require cheap, flat, modular space networked into national and state highway systems. Abandoned big box stores provide these conditions. With little investment, these flat pavement deserts could be converted to bio-fuel generators.
Currently, algae represents the strongest case as a feedstock: it is inexpensive, it grows on waste nutrients, and it produces on the order of 5000-15,000 gallons of oil per acre per year. Thats 10x its next yield competitor (palm oil)! Algae-oil, now emblazoned oilgae, is perfectly suited for production in modular bio-refineries inhabiting abandoned big box stores. Further, the ample parking lot space could better perform as a solar collector array and wind turbine field, ready to recharge new electric vehicles being manufactured and sold by U.S. and foreign auto makers.
Instead of pumping out carbon-intensive goods and consumers, Big Box Biofuel absorbs carbon as the algae grow and output clean fuel. Within one abandoned Lowes, Home Depot or Wal-Mart oilgae production could easily exceed 100,000 gallons per year. With solar and wind power adding around 200 kW of clean electric power per day numerous electric vehicles could be charged for millions of carbon free miles every year. Get rid of the faux facades and abandoned landscapes, and lets plug into these infrastructural behemoths with scalable, renewable energy.
Copyright 2010-, P-REX / M.I.T. All rights reserved.
