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<p class=MsoNormal><strong><span style='font-size:28.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Seaweed
forests could help power tropical islands</span></strong><span
style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='float:left'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:#4D4D4D'><a
href="http://www.scidev.net/asia-pacific/author.jan-piotrowski.html"><span
style='font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:#1E648C;text-decoration:
none'><o:p></o:p></span></a></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1E648C'><a
href="http://www.scidev.net/asia-pacific/author.jan-piotrowski.html"><span
style='color:#1E648C;text-decoration:none'>Jan Piotrowski</span><span
style='font-size:13.5pt;color:windowtext;text-decoration:none'><o:p></o:p></span></a></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#4D4D4D'>04/04/14<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:#4D4D4D'>http://www.scidev.net/asia-pacific/energy/news/seaweed-forests-could-help-power-tropical-islands-1.html<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:13.5pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
color:#4D4D4D'><a
href="http://www.scidev.net/asia-pacific/energy/news/seaweed-forests-could-help-power-tropical-islands-1.html#send-to-friend-form-container"
title="Send to a friend" id=email-share><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
color:#1E648C;background:#E10000;text-decoration:none'><o:p></o:p></span></a></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:13.5pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
color:#4D4D4D'><a
href="http://www.scidev.net/asia-pacific/energy/news/seaweed-forests-could-help-power-tropical-islands-1.html"
id=print-article><span style='color:#1E648C;background:#E10000;text-decoration:
none'><o:p></o:p></span></a></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:13.5pt'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;
color:#4D4D4D'>[HONOLULU, HAWAII] Harvesting seaweed ‘forests’ and
feeding them into large underwater digesters could one day meet the
world’s<span class=apple-converted-space> </span><a
href="http://www.scidev.net/global/environment/energy/"><span style='color:
#1E648C'>energy</span></a><span class=apple-converted-space> </span>needs,
with nine per cent of the ocean floor being enough to replace fossil fuels
entirely, according to an ambitious idea.<br>
<br>
Even a more immediate and realistic use of seaweed — a major untapped
resource — would greatly increase the self-sufficiency and<span
class=apple-converted-space> </span><a
href="http://www.scidev.net/global/governance/sustainability/"><span
style='color:#1E648C'>sustainability</span></a>of small island states, but
limited investment is preventing the roll-out of relevant<span
class=apple-converted-space> </span><a
href="http://www.scidev.net/global/enterprise/technology/"><span
style='color:#1E648C'>technologies</span></a>, marine<span
class=apple-converted-space> </span><a
href="http://www.scidev.net/global/environment/biofuels/"><span
style='color:#1E648C'>biofuel</span></a><span class=apple-converted-space> </span>experts
have said.<br>
<br>
Using wild or farmed seaweed to fuel anaerobic digesters could provide local
communities with abundant energy through biogas as well as producing
fertiliser, according to Antoine N’Yeurt, a researcher at the Pacific
Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development at the University of the
South Pacific, Fiji.<br>
<br>
“These applications will reduce the dependency of small island countries
on imports and build much more sustainable societies,” he told<em><span
style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>SciDev.Net</span></em><span
class=apple-converted-space> </span>on the sidelines of the 2014 Ocean
Sciences Meeting in Hawaii, United States, last month (23-28 February).<br>
<br>
“This technology could become widespread as soon as there is<span
class=apple-converted-space> </span><a
href="http://www.scidev.net/global/enterprise/funding/"><span style='color:
#1E648C'>funding</span></a><span class=apple-converted-space> </span>to
scale it up.”<br>
<br>
Anaerobic digestion is a well-established technique that produces methane and a
rich by-product ideal for fertiliser by fermenting a range of organic matter.<br>
But work was needed to identify the conditions and equipment required to
optimise the method for marine biomass, said N’Yeurt.<br>
<br>
He began a pilot project in Fiji in January — the first attempt to use
seaweed for biofuel production in the Pacific region, he said — to
achieve just this, using a US$200 digester designed for a family that is ideal
for poor and isolated communities.<br>
<br>
But with much of the US$10,000 grant being spent on laboratory work, he said,
more funding was needed if the technology were to become widespread.<br>
<br>
Small-scale operations are perfect for Pacific islands, according to
N’Yeurt, but, along with a collective of professors and researchers
called the Ocean Foresters, he sees this technology as having worldwide
importance.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<h6 style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-line-height-alt:11.25pt'><strong><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif";color:#4D4D4D'>Underwater
forests</span></strong><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif";
color:#4D4D4D;font-weight:normal'><o:p></o:p></span></h6>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-line-height-alt:13.5pt'><span style='font-size:
14.0pt;color:#4D4D4D'><br>
Mark Capron, president of PODenergy, a company exploring the use of algae as an
energy source, who presented the group’s ideas at the conference,
envisages a world where seaweed can meet the world’s energy needs without
adding to carbon emissions.<br>
<br>
Giant balloon-like anaerobic digesters on the seabed could use the natural
pressure of the deep ocean to speed up the fermentation that leads to biogas
production, fed by vast cultivated forests of seaweed, he said.<br>
<br>
Covering nine per cent of the ocean floor in these forests could provide enough
energy to replace fossil fuels, while removing carbon from the atmosphere and
increasing fish stocks by replacing bare ocean floor with a more-productive
ecosystem, he says.<br>
<br>
While some delegates were sceptical about this proposed scale, which Capron
himself admits is “rather optimistic”, there has been interest in
his idea.<br>
<br>
For example, feasibility studies have been published in a peer-reviewed journal
and his ocean forestation scheme was a finalist in a competition run by Climate
CoLab — a crowdsourcing platform for<span class=apple-converted-space> </span><a
href="http://www.scidev.net/global/environment/climate-change/"><span
style='color:#1E648C'>climate change</span></a>solutions run by the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States.<br>
<br>
If this dream is to become a reality, governments and donors must drop their
reluctance to support the pilot projects required to take the technology from
theory to practice, said Capron.<br>
<br>
Alex Golberg, a research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital, United
States, who has published a paper on using seaweed for biofuel production,
agrees that governments have a crucial role to play in the technology’s
development.<br>
<br>
Governments must be prepared to build a solid foundation by supporting
demonstration projects and further research before private companies step in to
scale up the technology, he tells<span class=apple-converted-space> </span><em><span
style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>SciDev.Net</span></em>.<br>
<br>
Apart from financial issues, the technology is “ready to go” in
small communities, he says. His research suggests that the process becomes more
efficient at smaller scales, making it ideal for isolated Pacific communities
with abundant seaweed.<br>
<br>
But the technique has yet to be proven on large scales, so Capron’s idea
is still a long way from reality, he adds.<br>
<br>
See below for a video by PODenergy about its ideas:<br>
<a
href="http://www.scidev.net/asia-pacific/energy/news/%E2%80%9Chttp:/vimeo.com/44076838%E2%80%9D"><span
style='color:#1E648C'>Ocean Afforestation Intro by PODenergy</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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