0:00:00.657,0:00:03.159 Some years ago, I set out to try to understand 0:00:03.159,0:00:05.887 if there was a possibility to develop biofuels 0:00:05.887,0:00:10.589 on a scale that would actually compete with fossil fuels 0:00:10.589,0:00:14.273 but not compete with agriculture for water, 0:00:14.273,0:00:16.711 fertilizer or land. 0:00:16.711,0:00:18.241 So here's what I came up with. 0:00:18.241,0:00:19.849 Imagine that we build an enclosure where we put it 0:00:19.849,0:00:22.127 just underwater, and we fill it with wastewater 0:00:22.127,0:00:25.255 and some form of microalgae that produces oil, 0:00:25.255,0:00:27.415 and we make it out of some kind of flexible material 0:00:27.415,0:00:29.487 that moves with waves underwater, 0:00:29.487,0:00:31.527 and the system that we're going to build, of course, 0:00:31.527,0:00:33.847 will use solar energy to grow the algae, 0:00:33.847,0:00:36.058 and they use CO2, which is good, 0:00:36.058,0:00:38.423 and they produce oxygen as they grow. 0:00:38.423,0:00:42.087 The algae that grow are in a container that 0:00:42.087,0:00:44.879 distributes the heat to the surrounding water, 0:00:44.879,0:00:47.143 and you can harvest them and make biofuels 0:00:47.143,0:00:49.823 and cosmetics and fertilizer and animal feed, 0:00:49.823,0:00:52.663 and of course you'd have to make a large area of this, 0:00:52.663,0:00:55.215 so you'd have to worry about other stakeholders 0:00:55.215,0:00:59.407 like fishermen and ships and such things, but hey, 0:00:59.407,0:01:01.670 we're talking about biofuels, 0:01:01.670,0:01:03.872 and we know the importance of potentially getting 0:01:03.872,0:01:06.351 an alternative liquid fuel. 0:01:06.351,0:01:09.032 Why are we talking about microalgae? 0:01:09.032,0:01:12.719 Here you see a graph showing you the different types 0:01:12.719,0:01:16.571 of crops that are being considered for making biofuels, 0:01:16.571,0:01:19.134 so you can see some things like soybean, 0:01:19.134,0:01:21.451 which makes 50 gallons per acre per year, 0:01:21.451,0:01:26.508 or sunflower or canola or jatropha or palm, and that 0:01:26.508,0:01:31.002 tall graph there shows what microalgae can contribute. 0:01:31.002,0:01:33.533 That is to say, microalgae contributes between 2,000 0:01:33.533,0:01:36.325 and 5,000 gallons per acre per year, 0:01:36.325,0:01:39.677 compared to the 50 gallons per acre per year from soy. 0:01:39.677,0:01:42.941 So what are microalgae? Microalgae are micro -- 0:01:42.941,0:01:45.389 that is, they're extremely small, as you can see here 0:01:45.389,0:01:48.357 a picture of those single-celled organisms 0:01:48.357,0:01:50.667 compared to a human hair. 0:01:50.667,0:01:53.493 Those small organisms have been around 0:01:53.493,0:01:55.533 for millions of years and there's thousands 0:01:55.533,0:01:57.757 of different species of microalgae in the world, 0:01:57.757,0:02:00.781 some of which are the fastest-growing plants on the planet, 0:02:00.781,0:02:03.973 and produce, as I just showed you, lots and lots of oil. 0:02:03.973,0:02:07.261 Now, why do we want to do this offshore? 0:02:07.261,0:02:10.109 Well, the reason we're doing this offshore is because 0:02:10.109,0:02:14.705 if you look at our coastal cities, there isn't a choice, 0:02:14.705,0:02:17.504 because we're going to use waste water, as I suggested, 0:02:17.504,0:02:19.415 and if you look at where most of the waste water 0:02:19.415,0:02:22.984 treatment plants are, they're embedded in the cities. 0:02:22.984,0:02:26.667 This is the city of San Francisco, which has 900 miles 0:02:26.667,0:02:29.322 of sewer pipes under the city already, 0:02:29.322,0:02:33.298 and it releases its waste water offshore. 0:02:33.298,0:02:37.210 So different cities around the world treat their waste water 0:02:37.210,0:02:39.578 differently. Some cities process it. 0:02:39.578,0:02:41.224 Some cities just release the water. 0:02:41.224,0:02:43.882 But in all cases, the water that's released is 0:02:43.882,0:02:46.842 perfectly adequate for growing microalgae. 0:02:46.842,0:02:48.507 So let's envision what the system might look like. 0:02:48.507,0:02:50.609 We call it OMEGA, which is an acronym for 0:02:50.609,0:02:55.040 Offshore Membrane Enclosures for Growing Algae. 0:02:55.040,0:02:57.592 At NASA, you have to have good acronyms. 0:02:57.592,0:03:00.435 So how does it work? I sort of showed you how it works already. 0:03:00.435,0:03:04.155 We put waste water and some source of CO2 0:03:04.155,0:03:07.202 into our floating structure, 0:03:07.202,0:03:10.843 and the waste water provides nutrients for the algae to grow, 0:03:10.843,0:03:13.561 and they sequester CO2 that would otherwise go off 0:03:13.561,0:03:16.171 into the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas. 0:03:16.171,0:03:18.499 They of course use solar energy to grow, 0:03:18.499,0:03:21.050 and the wave energy on the surface provides energy 0:03:21.050,0:03:23.354 for mixing the algae, and the temperature 0:03:23.354,0:03:25.914 is controlled by the surrounding water temperature. 0:03:25.914,0:03:29.268 The algae that grow produce oxygen, as I've mentioned, 0:03:29.268,0:03:32.556 and they also produce biofuels and fertilizer and food and 0:03:32.556,0:03:35.997 other bi-algal products of interest. 0:03:35.997,0:03:39.414 And the system is contained. What do I mean by that? 0:03:39.414,0:03:41.540 It's modular. Let's say something happens that's 0:03:41.540,0:03:43.734 totally unexpected to one of the modules. 0:03:43.734,0:03:45.933 It leaks. It's struck by lightning. 0:03:45.933,0:03:48.542 The waste water that leaks out is water that already now 0:03:48.542,0:03:50.930 goes into that coastal environment, and 0:03:50.930,0:03:53.178 the algae that leak out are biodegradable, 0:03:53.178,0:03:54.264 and because they're living in waste water, 0:03:54.264,0:03:57.333 they're fresh water algae, which means they can't 0:03:57.333,0:03:59.130 live in salt water, so they die. 0:03:59.130,0:04:01.290 The plastic we'll build it out of is some kind of 0:04:01.290,0:04:03.922 well-known plastic that we have good experience with, and 0:04:03.922,0:04:08.773 we'll rebuild our modules to be able to reuse them again. 0:04:08.773,0:04:12.345 So we may be able to go beyond that when thinking about 0:04:12.345,0:04:14.822 this system that I'm showing you, and that is to say 0:04:14.822,0:04:17.656 we need to think in terms of the water, the fresh water, 0:04:17.656,0:04:20.022 which is also going to be an issue in the future, 0:04:20.022,0:04:21.859 and we're working on methods now 0:04:21.859,0:04:24.381 for recovering the waste water. 0:04:24.381,0:04:27.173 The other thing to consider is the structure itself. 0:04:27.173,0:04:30.224 It provides a surface for things in the ocean, 0:04:30.224,0:04:33.467 and this surface, which is covered by seaweeds 0:04:33.467,0:04:35.961 and other organisms in the ocean, 0:04:35.961,0:04:39.948 will become enhanced marine habitat 0:04:39.948,0:04:41.611 so it increases biodiversity. 0:04:41.611,0:04:43.611 And finally, because it's an offshore structure, 0:04:43.611,0:04:46.513 we can think in terms of how it might contribute 0:04:46.513,0:04:50.267 to an aquaculture activity offshore. 0:04:50.267,0:04:51.856 So you're probably thinking, "Gee, this sounds 0:04:51.856,0:04:56.427 like a good idea. What can we do to try to see if it's real?" 0:04:56.427,0:05:00.242 Well, I set up laboratories in Santa Cruz 0:05:00.242,0:05:03.404 at the California Fish and Game facility, 0:05:03.404,0:05:06.453 and that facility allowed us to have big seawater tanks 0:05:06.453,0:05:08.176 to test some of these ideas. 0:05:08.176,0:05:10.798 We also set up experiments in San Francisco 0:05:10.798,0:05:13.629 at one of the three waste water treatment plants, 0:05:13.629,0:05:16.125 again a facility to test ideas. 0:05:16.125,0:05:19.429 And finally, we wanted to see where we could look at 0:05:19.429,0:05:22.133 what the impact of this structure would be 0:05:22.133,0:05:25.790 in the marine environment, and we set up a field site 0:05:25.790,0:05:28.253 at a place called Moss Landing Marine Lab 0:05:28.253,0:05:30.613 in Monterey Bay, where we worked in a harbor 0:05:30.613,0:05:35.459 to see what impact this would have on marine organisms. 0:05:35.459,0:05:38.549 The laboratory that we set up in Santa Cruz was our skunkworks. 0:05:38.549,0:05:41.447 It was a place where we were growing algae 0:05:41.447,0:05:44.112 and welding plastic and building tools 0:05:44.112,0:05:45.635 and making a lot of mistakes, 0:05:45.635,0:05:47.566 or, as Edison said, we were 0:05:47.566,0:05:51.016 finding the 10,000 ways that the system wouldn't work. 0:05:51.016,0:05:55.262 Now, we grew algae in waste water, and we built tools 0:05:55.262,0:05:58.694 that allowed us to get into the lives of algae 0:05:58.694,0:06:00.416 so that we could monitor the way they grow, 0:06:00.416,0:06:03.118 what makes them happy, how do we make sure that 0:06:03.118,0:06:07.020 we're going to have a culture that will survive and thrive. 0:06:07.020,0:06:10.109 So the most important feature that we needed to develop were these 0:06:10.109,0:06:12.837 so-called photobioreactors, or PBRs. 0:06:12.837,0:06:14.180 These were the structures that would be floating at the 0:06:14.180,0:06:17.605 surface made out of some inexpensive plastic material 0:06:17.605,0:06:20.262 that'll allow the algae to grow, and we had built lots and lots 0:06:20.262,0:06:23.391 of designs, most of which were horrible failures, 0:06:23.391,0:06:25.726 and when we finally got to a design that worked, 0:06:25.726,0:06:28.013 at about 30 gallons, we scaled it up 0:06:28.013,0:06:31.629 to 450 gallons in San Francisco. 0:06:31.629,0:06:33.823 So let me show you how the system works. 0:06:33.823,0:06:37.535 We basically take waste water with algae of our choice in it, 0:06:37.535,0:06:40.241 and we circulate it through this floating structure, 0:06:40.241,0:06:42.973 this tubular, flexible plastic structure, 0:06:42.973,0:06:44.466 and it circulates through this thing, 0:06:44.466,0:06:47.178 and there's sunlight of course, it's at the surface, 0:06:47.178,0:06:49.583 and the algae grow on the nutrients. 0:06:49.583,0:06:52.005 But this is a bit like putting your head in a plastic bag. 0:06:52.005,0:06:55.247 The algae are not going to suffocate because of CO2, 0:06:55.262,0:06:56.101 as we would. 0:06:56.101,0:06:58.760 They suffocate because they produce oxygen, and they 0:06:58.760,0:07:00.936 don't really suffocate, but the oxygen that they produce 0:07:00.936,0:07:04.040 is problematic, and they use up all the CO2. 0:07:04.040,0:07:06.472 So the next thing we had to figure out was how we could 0:07:06.472,0:07:09.701 remove the oxygen, which we did by building this column 0:07:09.701,0:07:11.178 which circulated some of the water, 0:07:11.178,0:07:14.548 and put back CO2, which we did by bubbling the system 0:07:14.548,0:07:17.000 before we recirculated the water. 0:07:17.000,0:07:18.704 And what you see here is the prototype, 0:07:18.704,0:07:22.502 which was the first attempt at building this type of column. 0:07:22.502,0:07:24.942 The larger column that we then installed in San Francisco 0:07:24.942,0:07:26.570 in the installed system. 0:07:26.570,0:07:29.968 So the column actually had another very nice feature, 0:07:29.968,0:07:33.085 and that is the algae settle in the column, 0:07:33.085,0:07:36.659 and this allowed us to accumulate the algal biomass 0:07:36.659,0:07:39.626 in a context where we could easily harvest it. 0:07:39.626,0:07:42.401 So we would remove the algaes that concentrated 0:07:42.401,0:07:44.969 in the bottom of this column, and then we could 0:07:44.969,0:07:48.792 harvest that by a procedure where you float the algae 0:07:48.792,0:07:52.688 to the surface and can skim it off with a net. 0:07:52.688,0:07:56.325 So we wanted to also investigate what would be the impact 0:07:56.325,0:07:59.256 of this system in the marine environment, 0:07:59.256,0:08:02.736 and I mentioned we set up this experiment at a field site 0:08:02.736,0:08:04.976 in Moss Landing Marine Lab. 0:08:04.976,0:08:07.816 Well, we found of course that this material became 0:08:07.816,0:08:10.728 overgrown with algae, and we needed then to develop 0:08:10.728,0:08:13.136 a cleaning procedure, and we also looked at how 0:08:13.136,0:08:16.073 seabirds and marine mammals interacted, and in fact you 0:08:16.073,0:08:19.096 see here a sea otter that found this incredibly interesting, 0:08:19.096,0:08:22.200 and would periodically work its way across this little 0:08:22.200,0:08:25.088 floating water bed, and we wanted to hire this guy 0:08:25.088,0:08:27.177 or train him to be able to clean the surface 0:08:27.177,0:08:29.584 of these things, but that's for the future. 0:08:29.584,0:08:30.905 Now really what we were doing, 0:08:30.905,0:08:32.677 we were working in four areas. 0:08:32.677,0:08:35.560 Our research covered the biology of the system, 0:08:35.560,0:08:37.728 which included studying the way algae grew, 0:08:37.728,0:08:41.377 but also what eats the algae, and what kills the algae. 0:08:41.377,0:08:43.556 We did engineering to understand what we would need 0:08:43.556,0:08:45.849 to be able to do to build this structure, 0:08:45.849,0:08:48.552 not only on the small scale, but how we would build it 0:08:48.552,0:08:51.868 on this enormous scale that will ultimately be required. 0:08:51.868,0:08:55.068 I mentioned we looked at birds and marine mammals 0:08:55.068,0:08:57.597 and looked at basically the environmental impact 0:08:57.597,0:09:00.748 of the system, and finally we looked at the economics, 0:09:00.748,0:09:02.395 and what I mean by economics is, 0:09:02.395,0:09:05.500 what is the energy required to run the system? 0:09:05.500,0:09:06.922 Do you get more energy out of the system 0:09:06.922,0:09:08.503 than you have to put into the system 0:09:08.503,0:09:10.516 to be able to make the system run? 0:09:10.516,0:09:12.262 And what about operating costs? 0:09:12.262,0:09:14.320 And what about capital costs? 0:09:14.320,0:09:18.478 And what about, just, the whole economic structure? 0:09:18.478,0:09:21.196 So let me tell you that it's not going to be easy, 0:09:21.196,0:09:23.756 and there's lots more work to do in all four 0:09:23.756,0:09:27.348 of those areas to be able to really make the system work. 0:09:27.348,0:09:30.268 But we don't have a lot of time, and I'd like to show you 0:09:30.268,0:09:33.770 the artist's conception of how this system might look 0:09:33.770,0:09:36.450 if we find ourselves in a protected bay 0:09:36.450,0:09:39.634 somewhere in the world, and we have in the background 0:09:39.634,0:09:42.402 in this image, the waste water treatment plant 0:09:42.402,0:09:45.275 and a source of flue gas for the CO2, 0:09:45.275,0:09:48.010 but when you do the economics of this system, 0:09:48.010,0:09:51.082 you find that in fact it will be difficult to make it work. 0:09:51.082,0:09:55.652 Unless you look at the system as a way to treat waste water, 0:09:55.652,0:09:59.380 sequester carbon, and potentially for photovoltaic panels 0:09:59.380,0:10:02.860 or wave energy or even wind energy, 0:10:02.860,0:10:04.131 and if you start thinking in terms of 0:10:04.131,0:10:07.172 integrating all of these different activities, 0:10:07.172,0:10:11.819 you could also include in such a facility aquaculture. 0:10:11.819,0:10:14.747 So we would have under this system a shellfish aquaculture 0:10:14.747,0:10:16.841 where we're growing mussels or scallops. 0:10:16.841,0:10:19.833 We'd be growing oysters and things 0:10:19.833,0:10:22.671 that would be producing high value products and food, 0:10:22.671,0:10:25.441 and this would be a market driver as we build the system 0:10:25.441,0:10:28.755 to larger and larger scales so that it becomes, ultimately, 0:10:28.755,0:10:34.556 competitive with the idea of doing it for fuels. 0:10:34.556,0:10:37.253 So there's always a big question that comes up, 0:10:37.253,0:10:40.597 because plastic in the ocean has got a really bad reputation 0:10:40.597,0:10:43.586 right now, and so we've been thinking cradle to cradle. 0:10:43.586,0:10:46.303 What are we going to do with all this plastic that we're 0:10:46.303,0:10:49.044 going to need to use in our marine environment? 0:10:49.044,0:10:50.562 Well, I don't know if you know about this, 0:10:50.562,0:10:53.324 but in California, there's a huge amount of plastic 0:10:53.324,0:10:56.669 that's used in fields right now as plastic mulch, 0:10:56.669,0:10:59.893 and this is plastic that's making these tiny little greenhouses 0:10:59.893,0:11:02.644 right along the surface of the soil, and this provides 0:11:02.644,0:11:05.902 warming the soil to increase the growing season, 0:11:05.902,0:11:08.445 it allows us to control weeds, 0:11:08.445,0:11:12.037 and, of course, it makes the watering much more efficient. 0:11:12.037,0:11:14.350 So the OMEGA system will be part 0:11:14.350,0:11:17.429 of this type of an outcome, and that when we're finished 0:11:17.429,0:11:20.118 using it in the marine environment, we'll be using it, 0:11:20.118,0:11:22.671 hopefully, on fields. 0:11:22.671,0:11:23.991 Where are we going to put this, 0:11:23.991,0:11:26.502 and what will it look like offshore? 0:11:26.502,0:11:29.493 Here's an image of what we could do in San Francisco Bay. 0:11:29.493,0:11:32.173 San Francisco produces 65 million gallons a day 0:11:32.173,0:11:34.933 of waste water. If we imagine a five-day retention time 0:11:34.933,0:11:37.302 for this system, we'd need 325 million gallons 0:11:37.302,0:11:41.328 to accomodate, and that would be about 1,280 acres 0:11:41.328,0:11:44.947 of these OMEGA modules floating in San Francisco Bay. 0:11:44.947,0:11:46.741 Well, that's less than one percent 0:11:46.741,0:11:48.492 of the surface area of the bay. 0:11:48.492,0:11:52.234 It would produce, at 2,000 gallons per acre per year, 0:11:52.234,0:11:55.230 it would produce over 2 million gallons of fuel, 0:11:55.230,0:11:57.430 which is about 20 percent of the biodiesel, 0:11:57.430,0:12:00.438 or of the diesel that would be required in San Francisco, 0:12:00.438,0:12:03.628 and that's without doing anything about efficiency. 0:12:03.628,0:12:06.598 Where else could we potentially put this system? 0:12:06.598,0:12:09.498 There's lots of possibilities. 0:12:09.498,0:12:11.550 There's, of course, San Francisco Bay, as I mentioned. 0:12:11.550,0:12:13.366 San Diego Bay is another example, 0:12:13.366,0:12:16.279 Mobile Bay or Chesapeake Bay, but the reality is, 0:12:16.279,0:12:18.371 as sea level rises, there's going to be lots and lots 0:12:18.371,0:12:22.278 of new opportunities to consider. (Laughter) 0:12:22.278,0:12:25.846 So what I'm telling you about is a system 0:12:25.846,0:12:29.478 of integrated activities. 0:12:29.478,0:12:32.088 Biofuels production is integrated with alternative energy 0:12:32.088,0:12:34.890 is integrated with aquaculture. 0:12:34.890,0:12:38.814 I set out to find a pathway 0:12:38.814,0:12:44.460 to innovative production of sustainable biofuels, 0:12:44.460,0:12:47.708 and en route I discovered that what's really required 0:12:47.708,0:12:54.985 for sustainability is integration more than innovation. 0:12:54.985,0:12:58.415 Long term, I have great faith 0:12:58.415,0:13:03.560 in our collective and connected ingenuity. 0:13:03.560,0:13:07.876 I think there is almost no limit to what we can accomplish 0:13:07.876,0:13:10.078 if we are radically open 0:13:10.078,0:13:13.808 and we don't care who gets the credit. 0:13:13.808,0:13:18.024 Sustainable solutions for our future problems 0:13:18.024,0:13:20.424 are going to be diverse 0:13:20.424,0:13:22.889 and are going to be many. 0:13:22.889,0:13:25.680 I think we need to consider everything, 0:13:25.680,0:13:28.712 everything from alpha to OMEGA. 0:13:28.712,0:13:31.592 Thank you. (Applause) 0:13:31.592,0:13:36.942 (Applause) 0:13:37.347,0:13:40.559 Chris Anderson: Just a quick question for you, Jonathan. 0:13:40.559,0:13:42.767 Can this project continue to move forward within 0:13:42.767,0:13:46.732 NASA or do you need some very ambitious 0:13:46.732,0:13:50.808 green energy fund to come and take it by the throat? 0:13:50.808,0:13:52.111 Jonathan Trent: So it's really gotten to a stage now 0:13:52.111,0:13:55.125 in NASA where they would like to spin it out into something 0:13:55.125,0:13:57.516 which would go offshore, and there are a lot of issues 0:13:57.516,0:13:59.743 with doing it in the United States because of limited 0:13:59.743,0:14:02.237 permitting issues and the time required to get permits 0:14:02.237,0:14:03.751 to do things offshore. 0:14:03.751,0:14:06.549 It really requires, at this point, people on the outside, 0:14:06.549,0:14:08.853 and we're being radically open with this technology 0:14:08.853,0:14:10.565 in which we're going to launch it out there 0:14:10.565,0:14:12.841 for anybody and everybody who's interested 0:14:12.841,0:14:14.681 to take it on and try to make it real. 0:14:14.681,0:14:17.158 CA: So that's interesting. You're not patenting it. 0:14:17.158,0:14:18.833 You're publishing it. 0:14:18.833,0:14:19.596 JT: Absolutely. 0:14:19.596,0:14:21.487 CA: All right. Thank you so much. 0:14:21.487,0:14:25.062 JT: Thank you. (Applause)