PAGE ADDITIONS

In 2007, Congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act, which required the United States to increase biofuel use. In accordance with this legislation, the Department of Energy dedicated $125 million to biofuel research in 2014 and brought the United States to be 45% of the world's biofuel usage, according to a 2014 article by Delia Gallinaro^[1].

The Department of Energy created the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), which supports R&D on alternative fuels. Within EERE, the Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) created a Multi-Year Program Plan describing many specific challenges to overcome and goals to complete in order to increase the percentage of fuel in the United States coming from biological sources ^[2]. BETO organized an Algae Program dedicated to researching and improving the viability of algae as an energy source. EERE's official page for the Algae Program lists goals including improving yields of algae strains while decreasing expenses of growing algae, filtering the algae from the water, extracting the oils, and processing the biofuel ^[3].

The United States Department of Agriculture has also been ordered to fund $881 million dollars of biofuel research, so the organization partnered with the U.S. Navy and the Federal Aviation Administration with the goal of researching algae-based biofuels that can be "dropped-into" current military fuel infrastructure ^[1].

This financial incentive for algae biofuel research has facilitated the creation of many algae strains that can be converted to fuel. Current economic assessments cite large-scale pond-cultivated algae fuel prices ranging from at $0.42 to $7.50 per Liter^[4]. However, a 2012 economic analysis of commercialization potential and cost optimization determined a much smaller price range of $0.42 to $0.97 per Liter ^[5].

Analysis

I have chosen to analyze this page because it has the potential to outline a lot of information regarding the United States' policies regarding algae fuel research and utilization. The small amount of information already posted is correct, the cited sources show reliability and legitimacy, and the table at the bottom of the page links to relevant, well-developed pages. The largest issues with the "Algae Fuel in the United States" page is the lack of detailed information that should be relayed about this topic that is important to the United States' efforts to move away from fossil fuels. My first recommendation is to simply do more research on this topic, add more sections to the page (algae growth methods, government policies, advantages/disadvantages to this fuel source), and fill the page out more thoroughly.

Secondly, the History section only contains information about one program developed by the US to facilitate fossil fuel research - that has since been ended. When I clicked the 'Aquatic Species Program' wikipedia link, I noticed the History paragraph on this page is worded very similarly to the History page on the 'Aquatic Species Program'. Close paraphrasing violates Wikipedia Policy on Plagiarism and Copyright Infringement, so I would recommend re-phrasing that paragraph with a structure unique to this page. This section also needs to be updated to include more recent programs and policy decisions (such as President Obama's Clean Power Plan) that are influencing R & D on algae as a fuel source in the 21st Century.

This article is fairly neutral in presenting facts and not opinions. However, I think the Research section is misleading because it only cites a few examples of universities researching algae fuel. A fair article should list a larger variety of schools and organizations involved in this area of research. To list only six universities researching algae oil misrepresents the research field as smaller than it really is and excludes large companies with millions of dollars invested in this energy source.

Please contact me if you have any questions or clarifications about my suggestions. --Sierralandaiche (talk) 01:31, 5 November 2016 (UTC)