There are many challenges to achieving energy production from algae on a commercial scale, including strains, oil yields, cultivation methods, harvesting, and extraction costs. Efforts to address these include developing higher oil yielding and genetically modified algae strains, optimizing open pond and photobioreactor cultivation systems, and exploring lower cost harvesting and extraction methods such as induced flocculation. While scaling up poses difficulties and algae biodiesel quality requires further study, the identification of problems and variety of solutions being pursued indicate the potential for algal energy to become viable.

1. Algae Energy - Challenges & Efforts Narasimhan Santhanam, Oilgae Presentation in Oct, 2008, Texas, USA

2. How difficult is it to achieve the energy Holy Grail?

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