MARINE BIOENERGY

The official home of Marine BioEnergy, Inc. Revolutionizing kelp farming to produce fuel, feed and food... The U.S. Navy researched an approach to growing kelp in the open ocean. In the early 1970s, Dr. Howard A. Wilcox of the U.S. Navy first proposed that farming kelp in the open ocean could provide relatively inexpensive energy. 1 Due to the oil embargos of the period, the U.S. Navy was researching alternative domestic sources as a national security issue. Working with renowned kelp expert Professor Wheeler North of Caltech and with funding from the Energy Research and Development Agency (ERDA, forerunner of the Department of Energy), the U.S. Navy, the National Science Foundation, and the American Gas Association, Dr. Wilcox developed the concept that giant kelp can convert over 1% of the incident sunlight into useful stored chemical energy, fertilized by nutrients actively upwelled from the depths.

Also known as: Marine BioEnergy, Inc.