Welcome to the Website of Genes to Fuelsposted Thursday, September 23, 2010

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The demand for a clean and renewable energy source continues to rise. Fossil fuels are only available in limited quantities and cause massive amounts of pollution. After an extensive literature review, we have concluded that algal bio-fuels are the best solution to the energy crisis. Algal bio-fuels are an appropriate substitute for fossil fuels since they are easily transported, extremely versatile in their applications, clean and most importantly renewable. The actual bio-fuel is synthesized from lipids produced by the algae. Currently, manufacturing and processing costs are preventing these bio-fuels from being economically competitive. Our team aims to cut costs, by increasing the growth rates and lipid yields of our algae through the implementation of various exogenous phytohormone treatments. We have performed numerous growth trials, and have compared the quantities of the lipids extracted from each. Hopefully, our research will lead to cheaper and more efficient bio-fuel production in the future.