The race is on for a new form of fuel. With oil skyrocketing to more than $4 a gallon in 2008, dependence on imported oil and depleting resources worldwide, finding alternatives to petroleum-based fuel and fuel-related products is urgent.  

Algae are tiny biological factories that use photosynthesis to transform carbon dioxide and sunlight into energy so efficiently that they can double their weight several times a day.

The USDE estimates that if algae fuel replaced all the petroleum fuel in the United States, it would require 15,000 square miles (40,000 km²).^[8] This is less than ¹⁄₇ the area of corn harvested in the United States in 2000.

Algae could yield more than 2000 gallons of fuel per acre per year of production.

Approximate yields for other fuel sources are far lower:
- Palm — 650 gallons per acre per year
- Sugar cane — 450 gallons per acre per year
- Corn — 250 gallons per acre per year
- Soy — 50 gallons per acre per year