{"id":994,"date":"2009-03-30T05:14:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-30T05:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oilgae.com\/blog\/?p=994"},"modified":"2010-05-10T06:14:06","modified_gmt":"2010-05-10T06:14:06","slug":"green-jobs-in-algal-biofuel-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.oilgae.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/green-jobs-in-algal-biofuel-field.html","title":{"rendered":"Green Jobs in the Algal Biofuel Field"},"content":{"rendered":"

You are at: Oilgae Blog<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Hatcher started exploring biofuel three decades ago. His work was interrupted in the early 1990s when the DOE stopped funding research in alternative fuel. In today\u2019s green-friendly climate, Hatcher thinks the time for this technology has finally come. The Spring Grove pilot project is capable of generating 3,000 gallons of biodiesel a year on one acre of land. \u201cTo do this on a large scale,\u201d says Hatcher, \u201crequires a lot of acres and that\u2019s where the jobs are.\u201d A 1,000-acre algal biofuel project would mean roughly 30 to 40 high-tech jobs, each with an annual salary of $50,000 or more, says Hatcher. \u201cIt\u2019s not grunt labor. To monitor the algae requires someone who knows something about algae.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Blacksburg, JAS Energy is planning to build an algae conversion plant that will be fully automatic, but that doesn\u2019t mean it won\u2019t create jobs, says company President John Verbeck. In one of the more inspired pairings of Virginia\u2019s alternative energy movement, JAS is partnering with ATK (Alliant Techsystems), a defense contractor that operates a TNT manufacturing facility in the New River Valley.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur plant will be treating discharged water which is high in nitrates. That\u2019s pretty much the cause of algae blooms that are a problem in the New River Valley, the Chesapeake Bay and the James River.\u201d The JAS plant will use that erstwhile-pollutant to grow algae to convert to fuel, the first step in its vision of a Virginia where every major source of nitrates filters its waste water through an algae \u201cfarm.\u201d<\/p>\n

This pilot project breaks ground in the New River Valley this fall with hopes of a December startup date. It will take engineers and construction crews to get the plant online. Once running, says Verbeck, \u201cThe main jobs that will come from this are plant operators and managers.\u201d Plus hundreds of what he calls \u201cdomino jobs\u201d: everything from truckers to cleaning crews.<\/p>\n

If the wheels were set in motion today, says Hatcher, 1,000 Virginians could be working in the algal biofuel field in as little as five years. That timetable would require major investors. \u201cLook what happened with ethanol,\u201d says Hatcher. \u201cThat developed at blinding speed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

See more<\/a><\/p>\n

By the way, have you subscribed to the Oilgae Blog?<\/a>; How about joining the Oilgae mailing list?<\/a>; and our forum to discuss on with others<\/a>?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You are at: Oilgae Blog. Hatcher started exploring biofuel three decades ago. His work was interrupted in the early 1990s when the DOE stopped funding research in alternative fuel. In today\u2019s green-friendly climate, Hatcher thinks the time for this technology has finally come. The Spring Grove pilot project is capable of generating 3,000 gallons of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-algae-energy-companies","category-algae-fuel-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.oilgae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.oilgae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.oilgae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.oilgae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.oilgae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=994"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.oilgae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1686,"href":"http:\/\/www.oilgae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/994\/revisions\/1686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.oilgae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.oilgae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.oilgae.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}