PersonalAlgaeGrower.com is a website managed by ZHONG INNOVATION, a scientific innovation-based sole proprietary company. With one patent pending, ZHONG INNOVATION is actively promoting the Personal Algae Growers (PAG). This web site is devoted to the product, PAG.
The introduction of PAG was divided into eight sections. Each section provided the specific information in one area related to the topic of PAG. The first two sections, Carbon Dioxide Imbalance and Global Warming, gave a brief introduction to problems the world is facing. The next two sections highlighted what governments and scientists are thinking and doing about global warming. The rest sections were all about our PAG and algae. The answers to questions, such as why PAG and how PAG help, were the keys to understanding the urgent need for PAG. To summarize, the only way to reverse global warming is to aggressively reduce carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere. Our PAG is the only product on the market designed for this purpose.
After reading through the sections, please let us know how you feel about the PAG. We would like to hear from you if you have any suggestions and criticism for us. Lastly, we would like to ask for your help. We plan to bring the Personal Algae Growers to the market as soon as possible. We have finalized the design and prototype construction. We need more funds to start a small scale production and testing. Please help us help the environment. At the moment, we can only accept personal checks. Please contact us for the information on how to write your checks. Thank you very much for supporting us to help our environment and also for visiting us and spending your time on our site.
contactCarbon Dioxide Imbalance
Carbon dioxide is created in the respiration emission of all life on Earth and is the end product of all natural oxidation reactions such as burning fossil fuels. It is also a participant in a very important chemical process called photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is an energy conversion process carried out by plants and algae. In the process, catalyzed by many proteins/enzymes, solar energy is consumed to produce polysaccharide and oxygen from carbon dioxide and water.
The atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is regulated mainly by a balance between carbon dioxide production processes, respiration and oxidation, and a carbon dioxide depletion process named photosynthesis. Factors such as human and animal populations contribute to the respiration rate changes. The changes in oxidation rates are primarily due to volcanic activity, natural fires and especially human activities such as an increased usage of combustion engines for power plants and automobiles. On the other hand, the rate of photosynthesis depends solely on plant and alga populations. There is hardly any relationship between these rate changes. It is especially unfortunate that the increased amount of carbon dioxide has no effect on the rate of photosynthesis.
Recently, the human population has been increasing, more power plants are being built to burn coal and/or oil and more automobiles that burned fossil fuels are being put on the road. These human activities caused huge increases on the respiration rate and oxidation rate. Meanwhile, the photosynthesis rate has been constant and sometimes decreasing due to forest destruction in parts of the world. The net result was an increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide was 316 ppm in 1958 which increased to 376 parts per million (ppm) in 2003. It was an increase of 60 ppm over 44 years or 1.36 ppm per year. But in last four years, the carbon dioxide concentration has increased at an accelerated average rate of 1.75 ppm/year, totaling 383 ppm in 2007. We are burning billions of barrels of oil and releasing large amounts of carbon dioxide, a process not predicted to stop in the foreseeable future. This didn¡¯t and hasn't worried anyone¡until global warming was introduced.
Back to topGlobal Warming
Global warming is a very important issue related to the future inhabitants on the earth. It becomes more and more obvious that greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide, are the reasons behind global warming, which could be responsible for changes around the world. The effect of global warming, as the phrase implies, is obviously an increase of surface temperature on the earth. There are other events which may occur as a result of the temperature change, such as increasing droughts, floods, heat waves, water stress, forest fires, and even deadly hurricanes. In addition, the amount of Arctic sea ice is decreasing, the mountain snow line is rising and the mountain snow pack is decreasing. Due to the melting of ice sheets, the sea level will rise, causing coastal flooding. These climate changes due to global warming may have serious impacts on wild life. Some species may become extinct due to the shortage of food sources and environmental changes. For example, polar bears are now on the endangered animal list.
Back to topGovernment Solution
Governments from different countries disagreed on what needed to be done to combat global warming. In 1997, under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Kyoto Protocol, as an amendment, was published. According to a press release from the United Nations Environment Programme: "The Kyoto Protocol is an agreement under which industrialized countries will reduce their collective emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2% compared to the year 1990 (but note that, compared to the emissions levels that would be expected by 2010 without the Protocol, this limitation represents a 29% cut). The goal is to lower overall emissions of six greenhouse gases - carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons, and perfluorocarbons - averaged over the period of 2008-2012. National limitations range from 8% reductions for the European Union and some others to 7% for the US, 6% for Japan, 0% for Russia, and permitted increases of 8% for Australia and 10% for Iceland.¡± As of November 2007, 176 parties, excluding the US, have ratified the protocol. According to the protocol, 36 developed countries, among the 175 parties, are required to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to the specified levels whereas the other 137 developing countries need to monitor and report the amount of emissions for their country. Three other countries intended to participate.
The Kyoto Protocol set an emission target for period I -- from 2008 to 2012 -- for each of the 36 developed countries including the European Union as one party. Failures to meet the Kyoto obligation in period I will be required to be made up in period II, which starts in 2013, and will comprise of the amount in addition to a 30% penalty for each ton of carbon dioxide over the limit in the period I. On the other hand, all developing countries are awarded carbon credits for every greenhouse gas emission reduction project and are allowed to trade the carbon credits with developed countries.
Back to topScientific Solution
There is no single solution to the global warming problem or the increasing amount of greenhouse gases. Most proposed solutions concentrate on slowing down the release of greenhouse gases to a manageable pace as stated in the Kyoto Protocol. The current proposals or technologies can be categorized into three groups.
In the first category, technologies aim at a complete replacement of combustion engines and therefore a total elimination of greenhouse gas emission. These include fusion technology, solar technology, and hydrogen fuel cell technology. Please refer to relative articles for more information on these technologies. Most of the technologies are still in the research stage and are many years away from realization.
The second category is composed mainly of biofuels. These approaches are designed to use the atmospheric carbon dioxide as the carbon source of our fuels. It seems a good idea to burn fuels made from the carbon dioxide, which could result in less increases in the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere. Biofuels are fuels made from the biomass of plants, for example, ethanol from corn or biodiesel from vegetable oil, animal fats, or algal biomass. The theory is that the carbon dioxide used to grow the biomass would offset the carbon dioxide released by burning biofuels nade from the biomass. If the theory is correct, burning biofuels would release less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than burning fossil fuels. But there are flaws in the theory; for instance, the ethanol production requires the consumption of fossil fuels and has an impact on the human food supply. These factors were not considered in the theory. Biofuels are available now though the benefits of biofuels are still questionable.
The last category covers any technology which can directly remove atmospheric carbon dioxide. Such technologies would reverse global warming and its effects. Currently, only two proposals can bear such a large task: deep-sea injection of carbon dioxide and our innovation. On February 10, 2007, the United Nations¡¯s International Maritime Organization ¡°gave the green light¡± to a deep-sea injection project. Last year, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded $197 million to the first three large-scale carbon sequestration projects in the United States and the largest single set in the world to date. The three projects ¨C the Plains Carbon Dioxide Reduction Partnership, the Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership, and the Southwest Regional Partnership for Carbon Sequestration - will conduct large volume tests for the storage of one million or more tons of carbon dioxide in deep saline reservoirs. Our proposal, the latter one, is a solution on a more personal basis. We are developing a ¡°personal algae grower¡± or PAG as a tool to create artificial conditions for algae production at the same time to reduce carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere. The simple reason to use algae is based on the fact that a large percentage of oxygen humans breathe right now is produced by algae. Besides, using carbon dioxide to grow algae is a better solution than the deep-sea injecting carbon dioxide.
Our proposal is unique and very important because, in order to preserve the environment, the ultimate goal is to reduce the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere to the healthy level set many years ago before global warming. But all current proposals and technologies are designed to slow down the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from the current level by stopping the release of carbon dioxide in the future. This cannot reverse the global warming effects happening now.
Back to topAlgae and Carbon Dioxide
Algae are a group of plant-like organisms and some species of algae are the most basic elements in the food chain due to their ability to fix nitrogen. Those algae are one of the natural nitrogen sources for other plants and animals. Algae are commonly named based on their appearance: green algae, blue algae, blue-green algae, red algae and brown algae. Algae grow in unicellular or filamentous forms. Most importantly, algae, like other plants, undergo photosynthesis, converting carbon dioxide to polysaccharides while releasing oxygen. Photosynthesis involves a series of chemical reactions in which carbon dioxide from the air and water are the substrates while polysaccharides and oxygen are the products. It is believed that more than 75% of the oxygen in the atmosphere is produced by algae such as cyanobacteria.
In recent years, the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere has significantly increased as human activities increased such as burning fossil fuels, but the photosynthesis capacity by plants and algae has not increased as much. When production is greater than the consumption, there will be an excess of the product. In this case, the amount of carbon dioxide released to the atmosphere has been greater than the consumption by plants and algae. The excess amount of carbon dioxide has been left in the atmosphere. It is obvious that a possible solution to the excess carbon dioxide problem would be a larger photosynthesis capacity by plants and algae. That is why planting trees helps the environment. For the same reason, growing algae helps too and is a better and more effective way to stop the carbon dioxide pollution. Algae grow faster and absorb more carbon dioxide than trees. As with trees, the biomass of algae is useful; it can be used as fertilizer and/or fish feed. More importantly, this usage of the algal biomass will assure that all the carbon dioxide fixed into the algae will never end up in the air again. From this point of view, growing algae is a permanent way to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and a solution to the carbon dioxide pollution. But algae in ponds and oceans are part of nature. They come and go with the seasonal changes. It is almost impossible to extend algae season in ponds and oceans, which is why we invented the Personal Algae Grower (PAG).
Back to topPersonal Algae Grower
We have researched and developed the Personal Algae Grower (PAG). Our concept and design of PAG are in the patent pending stage. The patent covers the concept of personal algae cultivation, the design and uses of our PAG package as well as all of the devices or apparatus to grow algae for personal uses.
The details of our PAG will be available to the public soon.
Back to topImpact of PAG
The PAG is an artificial incubator for algae. Using our PAG, everyone and every household can grow algae. If just ten liters of algae culture grow in every household in the country, there would be 1.11 billion liters of culture, as there were 111 million households in the United States in 2005 according to the US Census Bureau. At a rate of 10 gram of dry-weight algae per liter culture per day, there would be a total of 8880 tons of carbon fixation per day (assuming 80% of algal weight is carbon), which is the equivalent of 32,560 tons of carbon dioxide per day and 11,884,400 tons of carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere per year, assuming culturing algae is a continuous process. It is a small fraction compared to the amount of carbon dioxide released to the atmosphere each year, but it is a good starting point considering these are for personal uses. Further research is needed to enhance the algal growth rate. If the rate reaches 100 grams of carbon fixation per day per liter culture, there would be 1.3 tons of carbon dioxide stored in the algal biomass in a 10 liter culture in one household in a year. It equals almost 25% of the carbon dioxide released by an average person in the US and 10% of the removal of carbon dioxide for a household of a four- member family.
The PAG is a complete solution to the global warming problem. Using our PAG, the carbon from atmospheric carbon dioxide is stored in the biomass of algae and is permanently away from the fuels. Instead the biomass of algae is put into the food chain as fertilizers for agriculture purposes or as fish feed.
Back to topWho Use PAG
The simple answer is every person who cares the environment and the future of our children.
What can one individual do to help our environment? Many people are probably asking themselves this question. The governments have their own agenda as do industries, but none of them have worked so far. Everyone is facing two options: to wait for a solution from the government and industries or to take action now by doing simple things such as conserving energy in daily activities, planting more trees or best of all, growing algae using our PAG. Using our PAG, an individual can convert atmospheric carbon dioxide into algal biomass. This process will create a net decrease of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Global warming is the concern of the generation and is a problem created by everyone on the earth without any exceptions. It is the duty of every citizen to understand this problem and take action. But the choice of action to be taken is limited to conserving energy at the moment. People often associate the reduction of the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration to using a hybrid car, driving less, using biodiesel, replacing with fluorescent light bulbs, using less air conditioning, lowering the room temperature or drinking tap water instead of bottle water. Our PAG adds a new way to the action list. Every concerned citizen now has an active tool to fight global warming, in addition to the above mentioned energy saving choices.
Recently, especially after the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, carbon quota for countries became a reality. In Britain, there was a proposal to give each person an annual allowance on carbon dioxide. The personal allowance will be stored on a card and used every time a person purchases items like food, travel tickets and energy supplies. The allowance can be traded between a light carbon user and a heavy carbon user. But the British government decided not to adopt the system, now citing the huge cost as the reason. It seemed a good idea because a quota on the amount of carbon dioxide released means a limit on the amount released. With a quota system, governments can control the amount of carbon dioxide released in a period of time, such as in a year. If strictly enforced, an annual quota system can be helpful in slowing down the pace of the carbon dioxide accumulation in the atmosphere. But critics disagree. They argue that, because the system allows affluent people to pay for their way, the quota system may encourage some people to continue polluting our environment instead of saving it. Our PAG can unite both sides toward a common goal: to reduce the carbon dioxide pollutant. By growing more algae using PAG, people can offset the pollutant they released in their daily activity. This is a new way for people driving big cars or living in big houses or flying private jets, to redeem themselves. Those using more energy may buy more PAG¡¯s to grow more algae biomass than those using less energy. Everyone has an equal opportunity to clean up the pollution. Also, PAG is a new tool for people to help each other. Instead of the carbon credit, people can grow algae to help others who do not have the time and energy to do so.
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