Акватическая программа: История исследований водорослей для получения биотоплива в США.

The Aquatic Species Program was a research program in the United States launched in 1978 by President Jimmy Carter and was funded by the United States Department of Energy, which over the course of nearly two decades looked into the production of energy using algae. Initially, the funding of the Aquatic Species Program was to develop renewable fuel for transportation. Later, the program focused on producing bio diesel from algae. The research program was discontinued in 1996. The research staff compiled their work and conclusions into a 1998 report.

Around 1978, the Carter Administration consolidated all federal energy activities under the support of the newly established U. S. Department of Energy (DOE). The DOE initiated research on the use of plant life as a source of transportation fuels. The Aquatic Species Program (ASP) was a small research effort intended to look at the use of aquatic plants as sources of energy. While its history dates back to 1978, much of the research from 1978 to 1982 was focused on using algae to produce hydrogen. The program switched emphasis to other transportation fuels, in particular biodiesel, beginning in the early 1980s. However, projections for future costs of petroleum are a moving target. DOE expects petroleum costs to remain relatively flat over the next 20 years. Algal biodiesel is expensive in comparison and might not be able to compete with such cheap petroleum prices.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory scientists isolated around 3,000 algae species. Fifty one varieties were characterized as potential high value strains, but fewer than half of those remain. A few hundred strains were in storage at the University of Hawaii, which for years, every two months, transferred, “passaged”, them to new nutrient rich test tubes. When a National Science Foundation grant ran out in 2004, maintaining the collection became impractical. A review released earlier this year found that more than half the genetic legacy had been lost. 23 of the 51 strains that were extensively studied during the program survive. The losses to the rest of the algal cultures have been even worse. “The really bloody shame is that of those 3,000, there are maybe 100 to 150 strains that remain at the University of Hawaii,” said Al Darzins, who heads up the resurgent algal biofuels research program at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.