World renowned venture capitalist, Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures, will keynote the Algae Biomass Summit in Seattle on October 23 and 24. Khosla has made many bets on alternative energy technologies which are higly risky but are logically in the path of where alternative energy needs to be. Food vs. fuel debates will disappear if non-food feedstocks like algae for biodiesel or other biomass for cellulosic ethanol.

 Algae uses sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into biomass quite efficiently. This holds great promise for the future to use existing CO2 in a renewal resource for fuel. Many entrepreneurs are working on optimal types of algae, bioreactors, conversion processes all over the world. The innonvations and explorations are accelerating rapidly such that there are two conferences on algae occuring in the same week in different parts of the U.S.

Attending the event in Seattle should give one an excellent perspective on the emerging role algae will play in our future energy portfolio.