I Thought Ford Was Dead...Now they're in the Algae Business, Too?

Ford may not have willingly accepted federal bailouts to save itself from its catastrophic management policies, its bloated unions, and its shoddy models that doomed it to dinosaur status by 2009. A quick visit to Detroit will confirm just how desperate times are for the American auto industry.

But increasingly, Ford is looking more and more relevant by the day. I think they were about the last major player you would expect to get involved in something as innovative as cellulosic ethanol.

According to Inhabitat, Ford has hired a team of scientists to investigate algae-based biodiesel as a major source of new energy for future models.

One of the scientists described the basis for this research program:

“Algae have some very desirable characteristics as a potential biofuel feedstock and Ford wants to show its support for any efforts that could lead to a viable, commercial-scale application of this technology. At this point, algae researchers are still challenged to find economical and sustainable ways for commercial-scale controlled production and culturing of high oil-producing algae.”

I never thought I would live to see the day that: 1) Ford has sustainability-focused scientific research rather than just churning out the latest SUV; 2) they could possibly be ahead of the curve in one day releasing a mass market vehicle that runs on algae biofuel.

Though I'm half cringing when I say this, you go Ford!