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A comment on Mass produced Gasoline from Algae is a reality next year in 2012. Parent comment

Re:Mass produced Gasoline from Algae is a reality next year ... by Joakal on Wednesday April 27, 2011 @07:03AM (#2489048)
Source of efficiency?

This chart makes me think you're making things up: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/File:PVeff%28...

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Re:Mass produced Gasoline from Algae is a reality next year ... by NickPollard on Wednesday April 27, 2011 @12:38PM (#2490061)
I'll dig around and see if I can find the source where I read this, but otherwise it looks like I was wrong. My bad.
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Re:Mass produced Gasoline from Algae is a reality next year ... by Unseelie on Wednesday April 27, 2011 @09:09AM (#2489315)
To back that chart up, photosynthesis generally works at around 5% efficiency.
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Re:Mass produced Gasoline from Algae is a reality next year ... by oelewapperke on Wednesday April 27, 2011 @09:33AM (#2489405)
Which agricultural plant gets 5% efficient photosynthesis ? That's huge. 2% is quite a lot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthetic_efficiency

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Re:Mass produced Gasoline from Algae is a reality next year ... by Unseelie on Wednesday April 27, 2011 @07:00PM (#2491420)
sugarcane?
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Re:Mass produced Gasoline from Algae is a reality next year ... by oelewapperke on Wednesday April 27, 2011 @09:15AM (#2489332)
Perhaps he means if you're using solar cells followed by Fisher-Tropsch to make actual fuel.

I'm pretty sure plants beat that.

But the base efficiency of plants is horrible : 2% is relatively high in plant species (solar energy input -> produced plant matter output). The most efficient plants in the world are close to 4.5% efficient.

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