World's First Algae-Powered Building Opens This Month in Germany

Splitterwerk Architects have designed an algae powered building, dubbed BIQ, which will be the very first of its kind. Covered with a bio-adaptive façade of microalgae, the distinctive building has been designed for the International Building Exhibition in Hamburg and is slated to open this month.

To create the algae façade, the building is covered in bio-reactive louvers that enclose the algae. These louvers allow the algae to survive and grow faster than they would otherwise while also providing shade for the interior of the building. Additionally, the bio-reactors trap the heat energy created by the algae, which can then be harvested and used to power the building. Once the building is completed, it will be evaluated by scientists and engineers to allow for future research and adaptation for future building projects.

Read more: World's First Algae-Powered Building by Splitterwerk Architects Opens This Month in Germany | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building

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Source: Kristine Lofgren, Inhabitat

European Algae Biomass 2013

Accelerating the Commercialization of Algal Biomass Through Applied R&D and Business Strategy

European Algae Biomass conference to be held April 24-25 in Vienna, Austria

During the afternoon of Tuesday 23rd April 2013 up to 30 conference attendees will receive a unique opportunity to visit Ecoduna's hanging gardens photobioreactor facility in Bruck an der Leitha, just a short drive from Vienna. There is no extra charge to attend the site visit, but spaces are limited and allocated on a first come first served basis. Please register your attendance for the site visit when booking for the conference.

Key Topics Include:

• Commercial market analysis & forecast
•  Strain selection & genetic engineering
•  The future for European algae biomass: view from the bioplastic, pharmaceuticals and human nutrition markets
• Algal culture systems: latest developments from laboratory & field
•  Harvesting, dewatering, drying & oil extraction: maximizing efficiency & reducing cost
• Commercial algae production: case study examples
•  Biofuel production & biorefining
• Algae-based CO2 capture
•  Algae as an investment opportunity: An investor’s viewpoint • The path from lab to commercialization 

Download Full Agenda
Conference Web Page

For more information, contact Dimitri Pavlyk
+44 (0) 207 981 2503
dpavlyk@acieu.co.uk

South Atlantic Phytoplankton Bloom

In this Envisat image, acquired on Dec. 2, 2011, a phytoplankton bloom swirls a figure-of-8 in the South Atlantic Ocean about 600 km east of the Falkland Islands. Different types and quantities of phytoplankton exhibit different colors, such as the blues and greens in this image. Earth-observing satellites like Envisat can monitor these algal blooms. Once a bloom begins, an ocean color sensor can make an initial identification of its chlorophyll pigment, and therefore its species and toxicity.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/03/envisat-anniversary/?pid=3266

Source: Wired Science

View from space: Toxic algae bloom in Lake Erie

Landsat-5 satellite images acquired in early October, 2011 revealed the worst algae bloom North America’s Lake Erie has experienced in decades. The bloom is primarily microcystis aeruginosa, an algae that is toxic to mammals, according to the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. The reasons for this year’s giant bloom are complex, say scientists, but might be related to a rainy spring and invasive mussels.

See pictures and more of the story at:

http://earthsky.org/water/view-from-space-toxic-algae-bloom-in-lake-erie
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Source: EarthSky.org Water Blog

Algal Turf Scrubbers

An article published in the June issue of BioScience describes the early scale-up stage of a new biotechnology with environmental benefits and possible commercial potential. Algal turf scrubbers are field-sized, water-treatment systems that can extract excess nutrients from streams, canals, and lakes polluted by agricultural, domestic, and some industrial runoff. They use sunlight as their principal source of energy and simultaneously restore oxygen levels. The devices work by pulsing contaminated water across algae that are allowed to grow on screens. Algal turf scrubbers produce waste suitable for use as a nitrogen- and phosphorus-rich fertilizer. Some algal turf scrubbers can even operate in open water, thus minimizing loss of agricultural land to the systems.

The BioScience article, by Walter H. Adey of the Smithsonian Institution, Patrick C. Kangas of the University of Maryland, and Walter Mulbry of the US Department of Agriculture, notes that the need to clean wastewater and various types of runoff contaminated with nitrogen and phosphorus is immediate in many places where natural waters are polluted.

The article stresses that algal turf scrubbing is not likely to ever be profitable just as a way of making a fuel crop. Algal turf scrubbing could become common if the economic value of nutrient removal can be applied to the cost of building and running the units. That might depend on public policy that imposes a predictable cost on pollution of natural waters.
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Source: NALMS Notes - June 2011
http://www.nalms./org