CO2 is recognized as the most important (at least in quantity) of the atmospheric pollutants that contribute to the “greenhouse effect,” a term coined by the French mathematician Fourier in the mid-1800s to describe the trapping of heat in the Earth’s atmosphere by gases capable of absorbing radiation. By the end of the last century, scientists were already speculating on the potential impacts of anthropogenic

CO2. The watershed event that brought the question of global warming to the forefront in the scientific community was the publication of Revelle’s data in 1957, which quantified the geologically unprecedented build-up of atmospheric CO2 that began with the advent of the industrial revolution. Revelle14 characterized the potential risk of global climate change this way:

“Human beings are carrying out a large scale geophysical experiment of a kind that could not have happened in the past nor be produced in the future. Within a few centuries, we are returning to the atmosphere and the oceans the concentrated organic carbon stored in sedimentary rocks over hundreds of millions of years.”

Despite 40 years of research since Revelle first identified the potential risk of global warming, the debate over the real impacts of the increased CO2 levels still rages. We may never be able to scientifically predict the climatic effects of increasing carbon dioxide levels due to the complexity of atmospheric and meteorological modeling. Indeed, Revelle’s concise statement of the risks at play in global climate change remains the best framing of the issue available for policy makers today. The question we face as a nation is how much risk we are willing to take on an issue like this. That debate has never properly taken place with the American public.

As Revelle’s statement implies, the burning of fossil fuels is the major source of the current build up of atmospheric CO2. Thus, identifying alternatives to fossil fuels must be a key strategy in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. While no one single fuel can substitute for fossil fuels in an all of the energy sectors, we believe that biodiesel made from algal oils is a fuel which can make a major contribution to the reduction of CO2 generated by power plants and commercial diesel engines.