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Microbes and solar power ‘could produce 10 times more food than plants’
- wrycoder 5y ago“Food”
- MikeDelta 5y agoIf this becomes food, it will definitely become a diet. We'll have vegeterian, vegan, microbian, etc.
- foxyv 5y agoIt's already a "Superfood" apparently. https://www.amazon.com/Chlorella-Powder-Ounces-Superfood-Smoothies/dp/B07M8YP8R4/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=algae+protein&qid=1624462607&sr=8-4 https://www.amazon.com/Chlorella-Powder-Ounces-Superfood-Smo...
- Zababa 5y ago> The concept uses electricity from solar panels and carbon dioxide from the air to create fuel for microbes, which are grown in bioreactor vats and then processed into dry protein powders. I wouldn't call that "food". It could be a great alternative to current protein powder, and maybe used as flour, but flour isn't food, it's an ingredient.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- ArkanExplorer 5y agoJust 55 percent of the world's crop calories are actually eaten directly by people. Another 36 percent is used for animal feed. And the remaining 9 percent goes toward biofuels and other industrial uses. https://www.vox.com/2014/8/21/6053187/cropland-map-food-fuel-animal-feed#:~:text=Just%2055%20percent%20of%20the,biofuels%20and%20other%20industrial%20uses https://www.vox.com/2014/8/21/6053187/cropland-map-food-fuel.... We can obviously drop biofuels immediately, as a complete boondoggle, and replace a far portion of the animal feed with this stuff. It does raise the question though of what the function of the global poor is going to be, since many of them are engaged in agriculture.
- science4sail 5y agoFrom a sci-fi perspective, algae has been proposed as a food source for spacecraft life support systems. Going by the most optimistic estimates, 6 liters of algae produces enough oxygen and food to sustain a human indefinitely. http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/celss.php#id--Growing_Plants--Algaculture http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/celss.php#id--G... I for one do not welcome a future where most people live on green slime and only the wealthy have grains/vegetables/meat. At least not without lots of investment into artificial flavoring.
- science4sail 5y agoFor that matter, Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series mentions "microfood" as a staple dish eaten by both the desperately poor and ludicrously wealthy.
- miltondts 5y agoBetter that than Soylent Green.
- foxyv 5y agoYou would be surprised with how people adapt to new foods. Lobster used to be something you fed to prisoners and slaves. White rice used to be the food of the rich in asia and a lot of Japanese sailors joined because that's how they could get it. Soy has always been animal feed, but now it's in everything. Whey protein used to be thrown away as waste. You can already get algae powder as a protein supplement. I've seen a few vegan sushi recipes that use it to flavor vegetables to taste like fish. https://www.capeporpoiselobster.com/a-brief-history-of-lobsters-and-how-they-became-seafood-royalty/#:~:text=Lobsters%20were%20considered%20the%20%E2%80%9Cpoor,than%20three%20times%20a%20week https://www.capeporpoiselobster.com/a-brief-history-of-lobst.... https://www.amazon.com/Chlorella-Powder-Ounces-Superfood-Smoothies/dp/B07M8YP8R4/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=algae+protein&qid=1624462607&sr=8-4 https://www.amazon.com/Chlorella-Powder-Ounces-Superfood-Smo...
- kderbyma 5y agoAnyone else remember the Asimov yeast plants in the robot series. Yeast was all anyone ate except for the elites who got burgers