The number of industries algae can be used is as wide as your imagination.
This year, as part of Vivid Sydney, an illuminated algal forest (the UTS Living Lights installation) will spring to life on Sydney’s foreshore.
It takes a special type of person to get excited about algae. But spend a few minutes with Director of the Climate Change Cluster (C3) and founder of the Deep Green Biotech Hub Peter Ralph and it’s easy to see why he’s so passionate about the potential for this ‘green gold’.
Student Erica Leal with Peter Ralph. Photo by Jesse Taylor
“There are six million barrels of oil a day used for making plastics,” explains Peter. “We could, in principle, replace all of that and leave the oil in the ground.”
He says, the strength of algae lies in its simplicity. These single cell organisms are responsible for more than 50 per cent of the oxygen we breathe. They strip carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and have a biochemical structure that can be manipulated for use in a huge variety of processes and products.
Read the full story on UTS Newsroom