Green Gold: A Look at Algae's Investment Potential

Significant production of algae biofuels could provide a substantial portion of transportation fuel needs. That's because algae have a much higher productivity potential than crop-based biofuels. Growing algae is also very water efficient. Producing enough to make 60 billion gallons a year of biodiesel could require as little as 16 trillion gallons of water. Its productivity per acre compared to other sources of biofuels is astounding, between 1,200 and 10,000 gallons per square meter per day, depending on the triglyceride content of the particular alga species.