WEBVTT

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What I'm going to do is,
I'm going to explain to you

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an extreme green concept

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that was developed
at NASA's Glenn Research Center

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in Cleveland, Ohio.

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But before I do that, we have to go over

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the definition of what green is,

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'cause a lot of us have a
different definition of it.

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Green. The product is created through

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environmentally and socially
conscious means.

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There's plenty of things that
are being called green now.

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What does it actually mean?

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We use three metrics to determine green.

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The first metric is: Is it sustainable?

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Which means, are you preserving
what you are doing for future use

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or for future generations?

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Is it alternative? Is it different
than what is being used today,

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or does it have a lower carbon footprint

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than what's used conventionally?

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And three: Is it renewable?

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Does it come from Earth's
natural replenishing resources,

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such as sun, wind and water?

NOTE Paragraph

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Now, my task at NASA is to develop

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the next generation of aviation fuels.

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Extreme green. Why aviation?

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The field of aviation uses
more fuel than just about

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every other combined. We
need to find an alternative.

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Also it's a national
aeronautics directive.

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One of the national aeronautics
goals is to develop

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the next generation of fuels, biofuels,

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using domestic and safe,
friendly resources.

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Now, combating that challenge

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we have to also meet
the big three metric —

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Actually, extreme green
for us is all three together;

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that's why you see the plus
there. I was told to say that.

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So it has to be the big three at
GRC. That's another metric.

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Ninety-seven percent of the
world's water is saltwater.

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How about we use that?
Combine that with number three.

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Do not use arable land.

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Because crops are already
growing on that land

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that's very scarce around the world.

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Number two: Don't compete with food crops.

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That's already a well established
entity, they don't need another entry.

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And lastly the most precious
resource we have on this Earth

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is fresh water. Don't use fresh water.

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If 97.5 percent
of the world's water is saltwater,

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2.5 percent is fresh water.
Less than a half percent

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of that is accessible for human use.

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But 60 percent of the population
lives within that one percent.

NOTE Paragraph

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So, combating my problem was,
now I have to be extreme green

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and meet the big three.
Ladies and gentlemen,

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welcome to the GreenLab Research Facility.

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This is a facility dedicated
to the next generation

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of aviation fuels using halophytes.

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A halophyte is a salt-tolerating plant.

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Most plants don't like salt,
but halophytes tolerate salt.

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We also are using weeds

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and we are also using algae.

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The good thing about our lab is, we've had

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3,600 visitors in the last two years.

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Why do you think that's so?

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Because we are on to something special.

NOTE Paragraph

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So, in the lower you see
the GreenLab obviously,

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and on the right hand
side you'll see algae.

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If you are into the business
of the next generation

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of aviation fuels, algae
is a viable option,

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there's a lot of funding right now,

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and we have an algae to fuels program.

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There's two types of algae growing.

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One is a closed photobioreactor
that you see here,

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and what you see on the other
side is our species —

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we are currently using a species
called Scenedesmus dimorphus.

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Our job at NASA is to take the
experimental and computational

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and make a better mixing for
the closed photobioreactors.

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Now the problems with closed
photobioreactors are:

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They are quite expensive,
they are automated,

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and it's very difficult
to get them in large scale.

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So on large scale what do they use?

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We use open pond systems.
Now, around the world

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they are growing algae,
with this racetrack design

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that you see here. Looks like an oval with

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a paddle wheel and mixes really well,

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but when it gets around the last turn,
which I call turn four — it's stagnant.

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We actually have a solution for that.

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In the GreenLab in our open pond system

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we use something that happens
in nature: waves.

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We actually use wave technology
on our open pond systems.

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We have 95 percent mixing
and our lipid content is higher

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than a closed photobioreactor system,

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which we think is significant.

NOTE Paragraph

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There is a drawback to algae,
however: It's very expensive.

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Is there a way to produce
algae inexpensively?

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And the answer is: yes.

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We do the same thing
we do with halophytes,

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and that is: climatic adaptation.

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In our GreenLab we have
six primary ecosystems

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that range from freshwater
all the way to saltwater.

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What we do: We take a potential
species, we start at freshwater,

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we add a little bit more salt,
when the second tank here

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will be the same ecosystem as Brazil —

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right next to the sugar cane
fields you can have our plants —

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the next tank represents Africa,
the next tank represents Arizona,

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the next tank represents Florida,

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and the next tank represents
California or the open ocean.

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What we are trying to do is to
come up with a single species

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that can survive anywhere in the
world, where there's barren desert.

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We are being very successful so far.

NOTE Paragraph

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Now, here's one of the problems.

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If you are a farmer, you need five things
to be successful: You need seeds,

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you need soil, you need
water and you need sun,

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and the last thing that you
need is fertilizer.

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Most people use chemical fertilizers.
But guess what?

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We do not use chemical fertilizer.

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Wait a second! I just saw lots of greenery
in your GreenLab. You have to use fertilizer.

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Believe it or not, in our analysis
of our saltwater ecosystems

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80 percent of what we need
are in these tanks themselves.

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The 20 percent that's missing
is nitrogen and phosphorous.

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We have a natural solution: fish.

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No we don't cut up the fish
and put them in there.

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Fish waste is what we use.
As a matter of fact

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we use freshwater mollies, that we've
used our climatic adaptation technique

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from freshwater all the way to seawater.

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Freshwater mollies: cheap,
they love to make babies,

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and they love to go to the bathroom.

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And the more they go to the
bathroom, the more fertilizer we get,

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the better off we are, believe it or not.

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It should be noted that we use
sand as our soil,

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regular beach sand. Fossilized coral.

NOTE Paragraph

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So a lot of people ask me,
"How did you get started?"

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Well, we got started in what we
call the indoor biofuels lab.

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It's a seedling lab. We have 26
different species of halophytes,

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and five are winners. What we do here is —

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actually it should be called
a death lab, 'cause we try to

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kill the seedlings, make them rough —

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and then we come to the GreenLab.

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What you see in the lower corner

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is a wastewater treatment plant experiment

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that we are growing, a macro-algae
that I'll talk about in a minute.

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And lastly, it's me actually working
in the lab to prove to you I do work,

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I don't just talk about what I do.

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Here's the plant species.
Salicornia virginica.

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It's a wonderful plant. I love that plant.

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Everywhere we go we see it. It's
all over the place, from Maine

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all the way to California.
We love that plant.

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Second is Salicornia bigelovii. Very
difficult to get around the world.

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It is the highest lipid
content that we have,

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but it has a shortcoming: It's short.

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Now you take europaea, which is the
largest or the tallest plant that we have.

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And what we are trying to do

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with natural selection or adaptive
biology — combine all three

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to make a high-growth, high-lipid plant.

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Next, when a hurricane decimated the
Delaware Bay — soybean fields gone —

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we came up with an idea:
Can you have a plant

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that has a land reclamation positive
in Delaware? And the answer is yes.

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It's called seashore mallow.
Kosteletzkya virginica —

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say that five times fast if you can.

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This is a 100 percent usable plant. The
seeds: biofuels. The rest: cattle feed.

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It's there for 10 years;
it's working very well.

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Now we get to Chaetomorpha.

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This is a macro-algae that loves

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excess nutrients. If you
are in the aquarium industry

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you know we use it
to clean up dirty tanks.

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This species is so significant to us.

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The properties are very close to plastic.

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We are trying right now to convert
this macro-algae into a bioplastic.

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If we are successful, we will
revolutionize the plastics industry.

NOTE Paragraph

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So, we have a seed to fuel program.

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We have to do something with
this biomass that we have.

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And so we do G.C. extraction, lipid
optimization, so on and so forth,

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because our goal really is to come up with

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the next generation of aviation fuels,
aviation specifics, so on and so forth.

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So far we talked about water and fuel,

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but along the way we found out
something interesting about Salicornia:

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It's a food product.

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So we talk about ideas
worth spreading, right?

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How about this: In sub-Saharan
Africa, next to the sea, saltwater,

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barren desert,
how about we take that plant,

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plant it, half use for food,
half use for fuel.

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We can make that happen, inexpensively.

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You can see
there's a greenhouse in Germany

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that sells it as a health food product.

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This is harvested, and in the middle here
is a shrimp dish, and it's being pickled.

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So I have to tell you a joke.
Salicornia is known as sea beans,

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saltwater asparagus and pickle weed.

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So we are pickling pickle
weed in the middle.

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Oh, I thought it was funny. (Laughter)

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And at the bottom is seaman's mustard.
It does make sense,

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this is a logical snack. You have mustard,

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you are a seaman, you see the
halophyte, you mix it together,

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it's a great snack with some crackers.

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And last, garlic with Salicornia,
which is what I like.

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So, water, fuel and food.

NOTE Paragraph

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None of this is possible
without the GreenLab team.

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Just like the Miami Heat has the big
three, we have the big three at NASA GRC.

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That's myself, professor Bob Hendricks,
our fearless leader, and Dr. Arnon Chait.

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The backbone of the GreenLab is students.

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Over the last two years
we've had 35 different students

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from around the world working at GreenLab.

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As a matter fact my division chief says
a lot, "You have a green university."

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I say, "I'm okay with that,
'cause we are nurturing

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the next generation of extreme
green thinkers, which is significant."

NOTE Paragraph

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So, in first summary I presented
to you what we think

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is a global solution
for food, fuel and water.

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There's something missing to be complete.

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Clearly we use electricity.
We have a solution for you —

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We're using clean energy sources here.

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So, we have two wind turbines
connected to the GreenLab,

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we have four or five more
hopefully coming soon.

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We are also using something
that is quite interesting —

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there is a solar array field at
NASA's Glenn Research Center,

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hasn't been used for 15 years.

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Along with some of my electrical
engineering colleagues,

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we realized that they are still viable,

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so we are refurbishing them right now.

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In about 30 days or so they'll be
connected to the GreenLab.

NOTE Paragraph

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And the reason why you see
red, red and yellow, is

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a lot of people think NASA employees
don't work on Saturday —

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This is a picture taken on Saturday.

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There are no cars around, but you see my truck
in yellow. I work on Saturday. (Laughter)

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This is a proof to you that I'm working.

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'Cause we do what it takes to get the
job done, most people know that.

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Here's a concept with this:

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We are using the GreenLab
for a micro-grid test bed

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for the smart grid concept in Ohio.

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We have the ability to do that,
and I think it's going to work.

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So, GreenLab Research Facility.

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A self-sustainable renewable energy
ecosystem was presented today.

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We really, really hope this
concept catches on worldwide.

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We think we have a solution for food,
water, fuel and now energy. Complete.

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It's extreme green, it's sustainable,
alternative and renewable

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and it meets the big three at GRC:

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Don't use arable land, don't
compete with food crops,

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and most of all, don't use fresh water.

NOTE Paragraph

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So I get a lot of questions about,
"What are you doing in that lab?"

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And I usually say, "None of your business,
that's what I'm doing in the lab." (Laughter)

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And believe it or not, my number one goal

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for working on this project is

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I want to help save the world.