Algae based Ethanol Production

So, most prior reports about using algae to produce fuel (bio-fuels) have been focused on growing a bunch of the tiny plants and then refining the oil they produce out of them. Things like Diesel and JP8 Jet fuel can be made this way. Good stuff on the surface.

But Algenol, a new start up that is modifying cyanobacteria to directly produce Ethanol using sunlight, seawater and industrial CO2 is *much* more useful in industrial fuel production. Admittedly it's not yet done to produce ethanol only vehicles, but every major American manufacturer is already making flex-fuel vehicles. That hybrid Tech is good to go. The HEB at Parmer Lane and IH35 here in Austin has an E85 pump that is cheaper than the usual fuel costs, well it was until the ethanol costs skyrocketed due to the corn ethanol bottleneck.

Primary benefits of production of ethanol (extracted from the website above) are Algenol does not use food, farmland or fresh water! This process produces a VAST amount more ethanol per acre than current food based technologies. They use CO2 and 'store' or recycle it, rather than trying to bury it.

So lets think about incorporating it into the GaiaShip. 10,000 units / 10,000 people living in a small space use a *lot* of water, produce a *lot* of waste and need *lots* of energy. OK - we have a CO2 and methane stream from the waste processing and possible energy generation. Methane we split off into it's own reactors... and that would produce more CO2.

We will also be likely to have a natural gas generator on-site in case it's cloudy and the sun isn't shining and the rest of the world has gone dark due to nuclear war, or maybe just to help out the city by producing a bit more power to feed into the grid when the local hydro plant can't keep up and they want to pay us lots of money to produce a bit of extra zots.

We don't really want to just vent the CO2 so we channel it to these bio-reactors. They chew on the CO2, make some ethanol that we can sell to the car addicted residents or ship out for sale elsewhere. Ethanol can also be used to make plastics and other products so some of the stream could be directed to nearby light industry. Three cheers for supporting the local employers. Cheap supplies means bigger paychecks or more jobs, and that raises the standard of living for every resident.

Oh and a nifty aside from this article in the MIT Technology Review. A gallon of ethanol produced also produces a gallon of fresh water... from Salt Water. Desalinization as a bonus! Probably not as efficient as direct desalinization but hey - we'll take all the little bennies too.

GE brings good things to life

So my favorite blog site - ArsTechnica has a great article about GE's new - fully integrated system for whole house power management, smart grid appliances and on-site photovoltaic and wind generation. The Zero Net Energy home.

http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/07/ge-to-offer-self-sustaining-appliance-set-by-2015.ars

Given that this company makes a very popular line of American appliances; light bulbs; and power using devices of *all* kinds, they are perfectly positioned to make this kind of move. They also are one of the biggest wind manufacturers in the country; make solar panels as well as every bit of switching and wiring and they are putting all these things together and will be marketing them to developers by the time 2012 rolls around... 3 more years!

As a technology package, this is going to be very popular. I can see it easily being offered as an upgrade option by a home builder - and selling faster than they can imagine.

One of the biggest current market pain points I've seen, due to my recent dabbling with my Father on starting a solar panel installation company; is that there is still custom engineering required for *every* installation out there. A package deal like this would be exceedingly useful for installers everywhere.

I for one will keep making my mortgage payments in anticipation of the day I can take out a home equity loan to make *my* home a zero net energy home.

More Factory Build Goodness

Yet another article talking about the benifits of factory built multi-family:

http://multifamilyexecutive.com/construction/factory-built.aspx

The $13 million Brainard Street Apartment project consists of 20 three-story brick buildings, with a total of 120 two- and three-bedroom units. But some of the best news to those waiting for homes was how fast the buildings went up. The project would have taken two years to build using traditional methods, according to Patrick Dorn, executive director of the Cass Corridor Neighborhood Development Corp., which managed the construction. But because Dorn opted for modular construction, it took only eight months from start to finish. That means residents got into their homes–and started paying rent–16 months earlier than they would have with a conventional construction approach.

Note that last bit too - 16 months *earlier* to revenue generation. Nice

OH - and since this had a number for how much this project cost - lets try a back of envelope calculation and extract to our scale (ignoring any benifits of scaling because of the added features & costs we would incur for mixed use)

$13 million / 120 units ~~ $108,000 Per unit

Given that I've seen similar figures (though a bit higher for non-modular constuction) I'm gonna say that's a pretty good number.

So 10,000 units X 108,000 per unit...

...Drum roll please...

let see that's 108 with 7 zeros... 1,080,000,000.

Uh - wow... 1 billion, 80 million.

Good thing we're looking to make $624,000,000,000 in profits on top of building costs.

ROI: 577% In profits.

It's OK - I only want 1% ^_^

Sexy Power

Yeah, I said Sexy!!

Space based solar power beamed to earth via microwave (in a frequency that doesn't cook you).

I want me some of THAT!

What's It Cost?

So we've explored how much it would be to live in the GaiaShip (cheaper than the average)....

We've explored how the money would be made by the lender's/investors ($624 Billion in interest payments to lendor at the last count). I've even explored marketing, and business plans to get this done.

But I haven't looked at how much it actually costs. Kinda fundamental don't ya know!?

Yeah I know - problem is... I don't know!

I don't have any frakin clue as to how much it would take to build this place. The panelized building techniques say $25 per square foot is cool - but is that real? My buddy who used to run his Dad's architecture firm says millions. OK, millions; but that could be 2 million... or 200 million or even 2000 million. What's it really gonna be?

So I dedicated some of my spare time (thank goodness for summer break) to reading up on interesting sites what it would cost. Wood is apparently much cheaper as a structual building material; but has been hampered by code and questions of reliability in an earthquake. Well, with wood being tested like this earthquake testing of 6 story wood building and new and improved fastening systems like this UBER NAIL, wood looks like a pretty good bet for cheap construction.

But I'll admit to a bias towards steel and concrete. Why? Primarily because I believe the thermal mass that these materials lend to a structure will more than offset their carbon footprints in the long haul. In case you didn't know - concrete apparently is being badmouthed because the generation of CO2 when it's formed is very high. Enter stage right - better forms of concrete!! Concrete can be dense, light, even translucent. It can be turned into surfaces that never need painting and in general; when exposed to the elements will last longer than wood. In fact; properly protected and maintained concrete lasts for thousands of years - just look to the roman empire. It was built on concrete.

But all that aside - concrete is more expensive than wood...

So, we form the external shell and structural supports with concrete, brick & steel, and fill in the living spaces and internal walls with simple wood forms made in our panel factory. Best of both worlds!

We still haven't determined how much this stuff costs; and unfortunatly I don't have an answer right now... but I'm in the market for a consultant. Perhaps once found, they can help me get a better idea.