Algae, the recession-proof industry

Good morning!

Yesterday I saw this alert from Algae Industry Magazine:

43.1% annual growth forecast for algae industry!

Makes sense. The great strength of our industry is that it can serve literally dozens of markets.

That’s a true recession-proof profile.

So SBI Energy’s report that projects “double-digit growth potential over the short term future” is no surprise.

What industry these days can double its size in just two years? Well, the algae industry.

What about fuels?

Is it just high end applications like nutrition?

Nothing wrong with nutrition, but biofuels keep making progress — even in North America, where the biofuels market will nearly double by 2017!

As we’ve said before, much of it is driven by “…increasing government concerns about energy security and independence.”

Sound familiar? That’s the US military, especially the Navy and its Great Green Fleet.

The military steams on

You may have heard that some in Congress are trying to stop this trend toward green fuels.

But it’s unstoppable, really, because of something called the Defense Production Act, which gives broad powers to military to direct the nation’s economic authority.

“The Defense Production Act is an authority that dates back to 1950 and has been used to boost industries such as steel, aluminum, titanium, semiconductors, beryllium, and radiation-hardened electronics.

“Title III of the Defense Production Act (DPA) provides unique authorities, under which the Government may provide appropriate incentives to create, maintain, protect, expand, or restore the productive capacities of domestic sources for critical components, critical technology items, and industrial resources essential for the execution of the national security strategy of the United States, including energy.”

You can read the whole story at Biofuels Digest’s great “10 minute guide“.

So that’s why funding goes on for the US Navy’s Great Green Fleet and much more besides.

As you know, we have a joint venture in this area. Yep.

Don’t forget the DOE!

The article adds this:

“The Energy Department is also announcing $32 million in new investments in earlier stage biofuels research that complement the commercial-scale efforts announced today by the Navy and USDA.”

I hope that you didn’t forget that we have a research agreement with DOE’s Idaho National Lab.

Good. Just checking!

A bonus photo

Here’s a great little snapshot of our lab team working with algae paste straight out of our new entry-level production harvester.

You might hear more about this soon…

Have a great week!

Riggs and team

Riggs Eckelberry
President & CEO
OriginOil, Inc. (OOIL)

OriginOil Signs Initial Agreement to Commercialize Its Oil and Gas Production Water Recovery Process