Greenhouses of today are largely automated: planting, heating, cooling, irrigation, harvesting such as those that produces vegetables, fruit crops, cut flower, mass propagation among others. They produce agricultural products and are profitable. The algal culture has far simpler requirements than these terrestrial plants, and why are some US algal companies are finding it hard to culture algae? Algal culture are much easier to do fully automated system, and should far more profitable, but very few, like www.sapphireenergy.com are able to scale up. And Spain is overtaking the US, according to this report.


http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/bto/20081020/Fellsmere_Verticles_270x377.jpg
A algae bioreactor.
(Credit: PetroAlgae)

Posted by Martin LaMonica
October 20, 2008 9:01 PM PDT

GreenFuel Technologies on Tuesday is expected to announce what few in the algae fuel business can claim--a paying customer.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based company detailed a multi-year deal worth $92 million to build greenhouses that grow algae, which can be harvested for vegetable oil to make biodiesel or to make animal feed.

In the greenhouses, the algae will be fed sunlight and carbon dioxide from the Holcim cement plant near Jerez, Spain....

click for complete article:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10070678-54.html?tag=mncol;title

Algae oil is such a great fuel but unfortunately it's just too expensive to produce. I don't know who will finally figure out a process to make it cheap enough to be included in our energy mix but whoever does is going to be rich.