The idea of replacing crude oil with algae may seem like a harebrained way to
clean up the planet and bolster national security.
But Lissa Morgenthaler-Jones and her husband, David Jones, are betting their
careers and personal fortunes on the prospect that they can grow the slimy plant
and utilize its natural photosynthesis process to produce a plentiful supply of
biofuel.
No one has ever done it before, and it will require not a small amount of money,
luck and biotech tweaking to do it.
“You have a vintage here that you are not sure is going to mature into anything
good, and you are putting money into it on the off chance that it might,” Ms.
Morgenthaler-Jones, 49, acknowledged during a drive the other day to an
algae-filled catfish farm in this secluded desert town.
Like thousands of other pioneer venture capitalists over the last two years or
so, these two San Francisco Bay area investors have trolled ...