"Vertigro, a U.S. company based in Vancouver, Canada, is testing single varieties of algae, grown in bioreactors that resemble hanging plastic bags, to see which grows best in a closed environment and produces the most oil. Its business plan is to sell its system to companies that would use it for commercial biofuel production, said Glen Kertz, chief executive of Valcent Products, a partner in Vertigro with Global Green Solutions, a sustainable energy development business." (6/29/08)
    -   International Herald Tribune

"Texas may be best known for “Big Oil.” But the oil that could some day make a dent in the country’s use of fossil fuels is small. Microscopic, in fact: algae. Literally and figuratively, this is green fuel.

“Algae is the ultimate in renewable energy,” Glen Kertz, president and CEO of Valcent Products, told CNN while conducting a tour of his algae greenhouse on the outskirts of El Paso. [...]

Algae are among the fastest growing plants in the world, and about 50 percent of their weight is oil. That lipid oil can be used to make biodiesel for cars, trucks, and airplanes." (5/1/08)
    -   donklephant.com

"Currently algae provide a much more productive source of biofuels. Glen Kertz president and CEO of Valcent Products says that algae can produce 100,000 gallons of oil per acre compared to 30 gallons of oil from corn and 50 gallons per acre from soybeans." (4/26/08)
    -   ljworld.com

"I've been to visit the Valcent Products in El Paso, Texas three or four times. I make a point to do this with discovery plays because I'm looking for improvement. If I don't see it, I won't waste my time. Valcent hired a couple of Ph.D.'s in plant biology to build a closed-loop system to grow algae. Algae are prolific and they produce oil. The problem has always been that if you grow them on a pond, the sunlight can no longer get through once they start to populate. Glen Kertz, who is in charge of Valcent's greenhouse operations, built a closed loop system of bags that hang in a greenhouse. The system runs water through the bags, and after enough algae have grown, it's harvested. Valcent expects to produce 33,000 gallons per acre per year of vegetable oil. As an added benefit, the algae consume carbon dioxide and give off oxygen, so the company could earn some carbon dioxide credits. Once Valcent decides exactly how to produce the oil, I think this could be a very, very interesting play. It's a discovery; it's a technology for closed-loop production of algae. To my knowledge, this has never been done before...

There are a few problems to work out yet. For instance, there are 64,000 varieties of algae. Different types of algae produce different oils. Some of the oils can be used for biodiesel, others for pharmaceutical products. But they're all high-margin. Producing oil for biodiesel fuels from algae is much more high-yielding than producing it from corn. By using this bag system in a greenhouse, you cut your land-use by a factor of 100. The water is purified and re-used, so there's virtually no water loss. To grow corn, you need water and fertilizer. All you have to feed the algae is carbon dioxide and a little water that you keep at a certain temperature. Clearly, Valcent has a way to go before it perfects the system and can market it. But it's a company that has captured a lot of interest. The stock is selling a little under 70 cents. I think it's for real." (4/24/08)
    -   The Energy Report Interview with Dr. Michael Berry

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