The most important subject to be solved by our generation is to develop a renewable, low-priced, and clean energy source.
Though dinosaur dominated the earth for one hundred and sixty million years since about three hundred million years ago, they suddenly became extinct sixty-five million years ago. Only one million and five hundred thousand years have passed since primitive man appeared. Only 138 years have passed since a true oil-based civilization began in 1850 (when petroleum refining technique was established).
The president of EXXON foresees that the price of oil will jump to 30-35 dollars per barrel before around 1995 due to the exhaustion of resources. He also stated that substitutes for oil on which we would place our hope before 1995 would be only tar sand and oil shale. Is it true? I would like to prove that the utilization of solar biotechnology could permit us to produce 660 liters of oil daily per hectare at an approximate cost of 10 dollars per barrel.
If we master the production technology of this kind of energy, we will be able to survive without making our species destroy for several generations under the ground even if we expose ourselves to a nuclear war or even if meteorite or a comet crashes into the earth.
Without such technology, our history may be closed at short period of time just like dinosaur, due to a nuclear war or a crash of big meteorite.
We have succeeded in fixing almost 30% of visible ray energy in an experiment using chlorella. This is equivalent to 88% of the theoretical value of 34%. This is 200 times more efficient in visible ray conversion than grain culture as done in Japan.