Better off scummed!

(Second of two parts)

The Invisible Scum

Among the hundreds of thousands of species of microalgae, a superhero is on the rise — meet Botryococcus braunii! This single-celled superscum which clusters in colonies produces a higher amount of a substance called hydrocarbon, which closely resembles the various contents of crude oil from fossil fuels, than the fatty acids that other microalgae produce. Invisible traces of Botryococcus braunii from soil and oil well samples were recently detected and analyzed by biogeochemists revealing new information that this microorganism contributed to the chemical formation of crude oil millions of years ago. The other special power of this microalga is, unlike other microalgae, it does not accumulate oil inside its cell but pumps it out! This eliminates the time and cost of extracting out the oil. The patent for this oil-excreting microalgae belongs to a Nobel laureate for the development of renewable energy from the University of California, Berkeley, Dr. Arthur Nonomura.

The Island of Dr. Venter

In another sci-fi classic by H.G. Wells, The Island of Dr. Moreau, a mad scientist mixed human and animal genes which resulted in vile monstrosities. But Dr. J. Craig Venter is controversial and is no mad scientist. He is the rock star of modern science for publishing in 2001 the complete sequence of the whole human genome (the entire genetic material of an organism). His team, in 2008, also published the successful assembly of the genome of a bacterium into yeast, the first time that a genome is transferred between branches of life. He called this new field of science synthetic genomics and co-founded Synthetic Genomics Inc. in La Jolla, California.

Dr. Venter is currently rocking it out again by working on genetically modified microalgae in a $600-million project with giant Exxon Mobil. Their aim is to generate microalgae with smaller genomes that will efficiently excrete much greater amounts of oil, then place them in Exxon’s modern refineries and ultimately meet the oil demand on a global scale. Dr. Anastasios Mellis of UC Berkeley is also working on genetically engineered microalgae with improved photosynthetic apparatus to maximize the utilization of absorbed sunlight.

Microsoft’s Bill Gates has also invested millions into microalgal oil production. In cooperation with the company Sapphire Energy based in San Diego, California and other giant investors, the group targets to produce 10,000 barrels per day of cheap microalgal fuel three to five years from now.

The World Set Free

At the rate that population is increasing in poor countries and modern lifestyle is progressing in rich nations, the demand for oil intensifies as the world fossil fuel reserves are slowly running out with the remaining largest reserves located in the Middle East. The smoking gun in the worldwide scientific efforts for biofuel is the attainment of the cleanest, simplest and cheapest way of production to compete and floor the escalating fuel prices. This will greatly benefit developing countries like the Philippines, much greater if they can shake off their dependence on foreign oil by producing their own biofuel. The Philippine President recently approved a multimillion investment for biofuel production with a South Korean company involving hundreds of thousands of hectares of land in Mindanao as jathropa crop plantations. But this is a move one step forward, two steps backward. The government-funded research on microalgal oil production which has just begun at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños headed by Professor Emeritus Dr. Milagros R. Martinez-Goss is more favorable. With sheer diligence and cooperation of our numerous scientists, engineers, skilled technicians, entrepreneurs, honest leaders minus government scums, the Philippines may emerge as a world-class, biofuel-producing country.

But the quest for quality life and healthy environment through affordable and clean renewable energy is not entirely in the hands of prominent scientists, world leaders, politicians and big shot energy entrepreneurs. Ordinary people like you and me can make extraordinary impacts more than you can imagine. If we all cooperate and become a part of a green-oriented generation, we may avoid going down the wrong track. We can be set free from future tragedies by simply handling and disposing of our trash in the proper places. Our simplest efforts may be unseen and unapplauded, but like the lowly and obscure pond scum, we can surely make a world of difference.

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Dr. Ronnie J. Calugay finished his Ph.D. in Biotechnology and Life Sciences at the Department of Biotechnology, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, where he studied unusual bacteria that produce magnets. He conducted his Master’s thesis in Microbiology at the same university where he worked on the transfer of bacterial genes into marine microalgae. He was formerly a university research associate at the Natural Sciences Research Institute of his alma mater, the University of the Philippines, Diliman, where they collected, isolated and characterized microalgae from selected Philippine marine waters. E-mail him at [email protected].