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An accredited investor is someone who has $1,000,000 of net assets or $300,000 in earnings each of the last two years. If you are not an accredited investor please disregard this page and refer to Univenture.com for information relating to the company. We are not taking any investment from non-accredited investors.

What are feeds? I see "RSS", "XML", and "Atom" out there, but I don't know how I might use these links when I find them.

Feeds are a way for websites large and small to distribute their content well beyond just visitors using browsers. Feeds permit subscription to regular updates, delivered automatically via a web portal, news reader, or in some cases good old email. Feeds also make it possible for site content to be packaged into "widgets," "gadgets," mobile devices, and other bite-sized technologies that make it possible to display blogs, podcasts, and major news/sports/weather/whatever headlines just about anywhere.

Why is This a Good Thing?

Subscribing to feeds makes it possible to review a large amount of online content in a very short time. Feeds permit instant distribution of content and the ability to make it "subscribable." Advertising in feeds overcomes many of the shortcomings that traditional marketing channels encounter including spam filters, delayed distribution, search engine rankings, and general inbox noise.

How do I read feeds?

If you want to browse and subscribe to feeds, you have many choices. Today, there are more than 2,000 different feed reading applications, also known as "news aggregators" (for text, mostly) or "podcatchers" (for podcasts). There are even readers that work exclusively on mobile devices. Some require a small purchase price but are tops for ease-of-use and ship with dozens of feeds pre-loaded so you can explore the feed "universe" right away. Free readers are available as well; a search for "Feed reader" or "Feed aggregator" at popular search sites will yield many results. A handful of popular feed readers are listed at the bottom of this page. A typical interface for a feed reader will display your feeds and the number of new (unread) entries within each of those feeds. You can also organize your feeds into categories and even clip and save your favorite entries (with certain applications). If you prefer, you can use an online, web-based service to track and manage feeds. Online services give you the advantage of being able to access your feed updates anywhere you can find a web browser. Also, upgrades and new features are added automatically.

Popular Feed Readers

Applications

• NewsGator - FeedDemon 2.0 (Windows, more info)
• NewsGator - Inbox for Microsoft Outlook (Windows)
• NewsGator - NetNewsWire (OS X)
• Firefox (via "Live Bookmarks" feature)
• Safari (feed support in the Apple OS X native browser)
• Pulp Fiction (OS X)

Online Services

• Google Reader
• NewsGator (Online)
• My Yahoo!
• Bloglines
• Pageflakes
• Netvibes

The Wonders of Algae

• What are Algae
• The Many Uses of Algae
• Algae vs. Other Biomass
• Our Nation’s Petroleum Issue
• Ideal Region to Grow Algae
• Industry Need

What Are Algae

Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from uni-cellular to multi-cellular forms. Seaweeds are the largest and most complex forms and fall under the category macro-algae. They are extremely fast growing marine and freshwater plants that can grow to considerable size (up to 60m in length). Microalgae are, as the name suggests, microscopic photosynthetic organisms. Like macro-algae, these organisms grow very rapidly, and are found in both marine and freshwater environments. Figure 1.1 shows a light microscopic view of the micro-algae Haematococcus pluvialis.

Figure 1.1 - Microscopic View of the Micro-Algae Haematococcus pluvialis

Micro-algae are the most primitive form of plants. All true algae have a nucleus enclosed within a membrane and chloroplasts bound in one or more membranes. Algae lack the various structures that characterize land plants, such as leaves and roots. While the mechanism of photosynthesis in micro-algae is similar to that of higher plants, they are generally more efficient converters of solar energy because of their simple cellular structure. Also, because the cells grow in aqueous suspension, they have more efficient access to water, CO₂, and other nutrients. For these reasons, micro-algae have staggering growth rates. In controlled environments perpetual growth can be achieved yielding extraordinary oil production. Comparatively, algae can produce over 400 times the amount of oil per acre, compared to soybeans.

Phycology is the scientific study of algae. It is a relatively limited area of study compared to other organisms that have found a role in today’s biotechnology industry. It is projected that there are over a million different species of algae. Currently the U.S. Algal Collection housed in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History represents almost 300,000 accessioned and inventoried herbarium specimens. This large volume of species has been categorized into classes, mainly distinguished by their pigmentation, life cycle and basic cellular structure. It is well documented that different algae species or strains may yield a magnitude of products including fuels, bioplastics, animal feed, fertilizer, food, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical applications.

Different strains of algae have been identified for the production of fuel. From 1978 to 1996, the United States Department of Energy’s Office of Fuels Development funded the Aquatic Species Program (ASP). The focus of the program was to develop renewable transportation fuels from algae. Extensive research was conducted on the production of biodiesel from algae grown in large raceway ponds that use waste CO₂ from coal fired power plants to fuel algae growth. The researchers cultured and tested over 3,000 species of algae, mainly from the southwestern United States, and identified around 300 strains of algae that are the most suitable for producing fuel.

AlgaeVS has identified three species of algae on which to concentrate their initial efforts. All are fresh water species that grow in various regions of the planet. However, they differ greatly in size, shape, biological make-up and end-use application. Experimenting across a wide spectrum will maximize the flexibility of the Rapid Algae Farming (RAF) System.

• Chlorella vulgaris:

  Chlorella is a very small (5 micron) round plant that has been widely studied (see figure 1.2). It is popular commercially for its medicinal value as well as for being an extremely effective supplement for animal feed. Chlorella grows exceptionally fast, doubling once every two hours under optimum conditions. It also requires little downstream processing to produce human food, animal feed, fertilizer, or fuel. The major challenge anticipated in growing this plant is in the realm of harvesting, particularly if operating in a continuous as opposed to a batch process.

  Figure 1.2 - Chlorella vulgaris in 250ml Beaker and Microscope View at 1000X Magnification

• Euglena gracilis:

  Euglena is biologically the most interesting of the three, as they have characteristics of both a plant and an animal. They can make their own food like a plant, but also eat nutrients like an animal. Additionally, they use a long hair-like tail called a flagellum to move through the water. Euglena is elongated in shape, being approx 20 microns in width and 50 microns in length. It has been identified as a high lipid producer that creates hydro-carbon chains mainly in the C-14 to C-16 range (See figure 1.3). This oil should be well suited for the production of many products including bio-diesel.

  Figure 1.3 - Light Microscope View of Euglena gracilis

• Botryococcus braunii:

  Botryococcus braunii is unique in the quality and quantity of the oil that it produces. It can make very long hydrocarbon chains (C-23-C40) similar to those found in petroleum. Theoretically, anything that we are currently making with crude oil could be refined from Botryococcus braunii oil. When this plant is stressed, its oil content can represent up to 86% of its dry weight. Botryococcus braunii is a large (50 + micron) irregular shaped plant that holds a good share of its oil in a thick-walled center (see figure 1.4). Although this portion of the oil may be hard to extract, leaving it in the residual biomass has shown to dramatically increase the value of this material. This particular species of algae is slow to grow. However, it shows great promise for yielding both versatile and high quality oil and biomass.

  Figure 1.4 - Light Microscope View of Botryococcus braunii at 1000X and 400X Magnification