Future
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is the largest increase in scientific research funding in US history. Billions of dollars are going into energy research, development and deployment in the present and will continue. U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced in January 2010 $80 million in government funding for biofuel research and development. The bulk of the funding, went to algae research and development, while the rest went toward ethanol infrastructure.
However, projections for future costs of petroleum are a moving target. DOE expects petroleum costs to remain relatively flat over the next 20 years. Algal biodiesel is expensive in comparison and might not be able to compete with such cheap petroleum prices.
Read more about this topic: Aquatic Species Program
Famous quotes containing the word future:
“... the loss of belief in future states is politically, though certainly not spiritually, the most significant distinction between our present period and the centuries before. And this loss is definite. For no matter how religious our world may turn again, or how much authentic faith still exists in it, or how deeply our moral values may be rooted in our religious systems, the fear of hell is no longer among the motives which would prevent or stimulate the actions of a majority.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)
“The future is made of the same stuff as the present.”
—Simone Weil (1909–1943)
“Plato—who may have understood better what forms the mind of man than do some of our contemporaries who want their children exposed only to “real” people and everyday events—knew what intellectual experience made for true humanity. He suggested that the future citizens of his ideal republic begin their literary education with the telling of myths, rather than with mere facts or so-called rational teachings.”
—Bruno Bettelheim (20th century)