Let's face it; the record on conventional biofuels as a carbon-reducing, environmentally friendly, energy security-enhancing, cost-effective solution has come in for an absolute battering in recent months. And that's not altogether unfair. Food prices have risen because the feestocks are not quickly scaleable, the rainforests in Borneo are being decimated to grow palms, no one will ever be oil price independent from instability in the Middle East (especially a WMD exchange between Israel and . . . take your pick) and oil prices are still going up.

So enter the slimy, green stuff.

When I look at this, I see a failed pond. Oxygen poor, virtually lifeless. But algae likes that. Alternative energy enthusiasts are intrigued because the energy density of algae is much greater than crude. Algae can also be refined to make petrol, diesel, jet fuel, and chemical feedstocks for plastics and drugs.

There is as yet though, no listed stock - according to AEI criteria - in the business of algae. Just this OTC stock, Global Green Solutions, which is mentioned in this article here. I suspect that will change in the next few years. And the dream is to connect a coal plant's CO2 emissions to an algae pond - this project here in New Mexico believes a 1 acre algae pond can absorb between 258 - 450 tons of carbon dioxide a year. It does seem though that we need a lot more enhanced genetic engineering of the enzymes to make this a large scale commercial reality.