Development in Algae Production for Algae Fuel Generation - Research Paper Example

Considering both Ford and Diesel’s cases, petroleum emerged and took control of the platform as it proved to be a source of fuel which was the most logical (Aden et al. 2002). This was on the basis of efficiency, price, supply, amongst other things. Although it didn’t turn to be the predominant practice, oils derived from vegetables were also used for diesel fuel in the 1930s as well as in the 1940s. During the 1970s and 1980s, the concept of biofuels applications was reexamined in the US.

One of the most predominant and imperative events took place during 1970 by the approval of the Clean Air Act brought into life by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This authorized the Environmental Protection Agency to diligently control standards of emissions for contaminants such as ozone and nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide, and sulfur oxides. This set the platform for manufacturing burning fuels that were considered to be clean. Consequently, it set the criteria for fuel additives (Alley 2003).

Overseas events like the Arabian oil embargo 1973-1974 and the Iranian Revolution 1978-1970, combined with a fall in domestic production of oil, operated in driving the prices up. In accordance with the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration, the United States import in crude oil was cut by 30% as a result of the embargo. This report further shows that the global prices of crude oil shot up from about 14 dollars per barrel in early 1979 to more than 35 dollars per barrel during early 1981, before eventually stabilizing.

Appreciably, prices did not fall till 1983, at the time when the global prices became stable between 28 dollars and 29 dollars per barrel. With the increase in the prices of petroleum, a series of researches were started (Alley 2003). The first global forum on plant and vegetable oil was carried out in Fargo, N.D during August 1982. This specific forum discoursed on issues related to the cost of fuel, vegetable oil effects to additives of fuels in addition to the methods of extraction.