NORFOLK
More than a year and a half ago I proposed to a congressional subcommittee on energy and mineral resources that the nation develop a balanced energy portfolio. My argument is for an energy policy that makes more use of renewable resources. This policy would not only be kinder to the environ ment, but also prevent an energy disaster if we experienced a dramatic drop in our supplies of conventional fossil fuels.

Today in Virginia we are making progress toward alternative energy solutions that extend far beyond ethanol production from corn, which is the biofuel strategy most familiar to Americans. In 2007 the General Assembly appropriated $1.5 million to launch the Virginia Coastal Energy Research Consortium (VCERC).

The mandate to consortium members was to produce a renewable-energy plan designed to take advantage of Virginia's natural resources.

One consortium team is looking into electricity production from wind and waves, a resource that could produce more than 20 percent of Virginia's electricity demand if it were to be exploited as it has been in Europe. But perhaps our most exciting initiative targets something else that is naturally occurring in coastal Virginia -- algae. To grow it, we make use of the state's moderate temperatures and abundant sunshine and water.

Moreover, in the initiative, scientists and engineers at Old Dominion University are taking advantage of a man-made resource that would otherwise be considered a pollutant -- nitrogen-rich wastewater effluent. We have installed bioreactors atop a Hampton Roads Sanitation District wastewater treatment plant in order to grow algae in effluent. These oil-rich organisms are harvested, dried, and converted into biodiesel fuel by means of a chemical process developed at ODU.

Already we have shown that this algae-based biodiesel fuel can power a small internal combustion engine. We have demonstrated this with a remote-controlled car for regional news reporters, for documentary makers from the nationwide Science Channel, and for potential private investors.

VCERC scientists also are sampling algae in native waters to determine their suitability for use as biomass for fuel production. In laboratories, still other scientists are testing a wide variety of exotic algae for growth rates and oil content, which ranges up to 60 percent.

According to scientific studies, algae farming on a one-acre pond could produce upward of 2,000 gallons of biodiesel fuel a year. In comparison, an acre of corn yields less than 300 gallons of ethanol. This use of corn, as with all other land-based biofuel crops, also drives up food prices and encourages farming practices that damage the environment. Producing biofuel from algae puts no pressure on conventional farmland or on supplies of freshwater, because the algae grows in brine or seawater.

Our use of algae to produce renewable fuel seems a "natural" thing to do. For millions and millions of years, algae in our world's seas died and settled to the bottom before being silted over and converted into the fossil fuels we tap today. Our modern process -- which can produce fuel from algae in only a few minutes -- is a considerable shortcut.

As promising as they are, though, algae biodiesel projects face hurdles, a major one being the end cost of a gallon of fuel. Past algae conversion experiments have foundered for lack of efficiency and because of cheap petroleum. Government subsidies can help, as they do with ethanol production, and the rising cost of fossil fuels makes algae much more attractive these days. But renewable fuel that costs significantly more than fossil fuel is not likely to be well received in the marketplace.

VCERC's plan is to offer a "value-added" biodiesel product by growing our algae in nutrient-rich wastewater. We produce not only a light brown liquid fuel, but also marketable byproducts.

As algae grow in our bioreactors, they strip excess nutrients from the treated wastewater, in effect performing a final scrubbing of the water before it is discharged into our coastal tributaries. This is good news for our local sanitation district, which faces expensive treatment plant upgrades in order to meet new water quality standards. Because Virginia is considering a program for trading or selling nutrient credits (these are gained by removing nutrients beyond the required level), a super-clean discharge could, indeed, be a valuable byproduct of our wastewater algae farming.

The VCERC approach can be extended, as well, to allow the algae to take up carbon dioxide produced by treatment plant incinerators and nearby power plants, which could provide additional carbon credits.

Therefore, our total product would be: