Invest in Algae

Sup Guys,
Hopefully this social/economic/governmental shmorgasbord of a topic is something that the breakfast club approves of.
Thinking of what I wanted to write for my first blog post was a task for me, but I finally came to terms with a subject about which I feel very strongly for. Namely oil. Namely, the WORLD's (not just the U.S) dependence on it and what we can do to curb it.
First off, I was like to preface this with some facts and background:
-Canada is the largest supplier of oil to the U.S. Period. In the top ten suppliers of oil, there are only three middle eastern countries, Saudi Arabia being third in line. (The reason I bring this fact in is to negate the belief that the Middle East perpetuates every oil price spike in the world. It simply isn't true)
-The rising demand for oil in rapidly expanding countries like China are spiking oil's prices.
-We have around 50 years left of PROVEN oil reserves (give or take on the estimate, this what I have heard in class).
-Oil use perpetuates the world's changing climate

Biodiesel alternatives to oil:
Ethanol made from corn
Ethanol made from soybeans
Algae. This magical little autotroph gobbles up sunlight and through photosynthesis produces oil. With some technological ingenuity, humans can harvest this oil as an EXTREMELY efficient and viable alternative to petroleum based oil. Algae can produce somewhere in the area of 1500X more gallons of bio-diesel per acre than corn can.

Why should we choose to invest in algae? Problems associated with petroleum based products like weather change are going to continue. Not to mention the fact that we're going to run out of it in our lifetime. To put it simply, we need to make moves. Big ones. And I think the government should step in and create (albeit artificial) demand for algae. If the U.S pinoeers this kind of research and establishes a modest supply at a competitive price, this could be the next energy boom that the world needs. Only once the playing field is level and there are some viable substitutes for oil can we begin to move away from it.

Here's some insightful info on algae and oil from some Poly students (Hell yea)