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Last update - 21:59 17/05/2008 Green giant By Kobi Ben-Simhon Tags: GreenFuel, alternative energy  1. Hard to stop him When Dr. Isaac Berzin talks about algae, he forgets everything else. He starts talking a mile a minute, and sometimes he talks about true love. "When I look at them through the microscope, I see them doing belly dances, and they have this small mustache that they wave. They are really cute," he says with a passion that he makes no effort to hide. He laughs and then pauses to reflect for a moment. "But because I am not a biologist I can look at them a little like a child," he tries to explain. "Where a biologist would talk about filaments and other technical terms, I see a mustache and behavior. I am constantly dumbfounded by this plant. This little thing is the baseline for the production of oxygen in the world; it knows how to use carbon dioxide and turn it into oxygen. It amazes me that despite this, algae are not given enough respect, and instead are treated like green slime." When Berzin looks at algae, he sees a new world and a revolution. Dr. Berzin, 40, is wearing a blue suit, and his hair is held in place with glistening gel. Eight months ago he returned to Israel from the United States after generating a research breakthrough that changed his life. Berzin, the founder of GreenFuel Technologies - a U.S. company that produces green fuel from algae - discovered that "green slime" contains one of the keys to the alternative fuel the world is seeking. His company is the first ever to develop and produce biofuels from algae that are bred on gases emitted by power plants. Advertisement It might sound like some sort of magic trick to put algae, CO2 and sunlight into a box and come out with fuel, but Berzin did it. "I feel a bit like Thomas Edison, who invented the light bulb," he says. "He tried thousands of materials until he arrived at the filament. My intuition, too, told me that it was possible to do something that people were only dreaming of - to build a device from algae to produce energy at market-compatible costs. "It's logical, really, when you think about it," Berzin continues, "because all liquid fuels are compressed ancient organic matter, the outcome of photosynthesis. The liquid fuels that are pumped out of the earth are ancient plants. There are no miracles here. We just accelerated the process. A quarter of the weight of algae is vegetable oil from which biofuel can be produced, and the point was to control the biology. My goal was to adapt the algae to the local water and the local profile of the gases - to ensure they would be happy." Thanks to that happiness, Time magazine this month included Berzin in its list of the 100 most influential people in the world for 2008. He is in the company of George Bush, Hillary Clinton, the Dalai Lama, Oprah Winfrey, and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie (as a couple). Berzin is one of four people who made the glittering list owing to their environmental activity. The green slot also includes Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, for his plan to make New York the largest city with clean air by 2030, and Susan Solomon, a member of the United Nations panel on climate change that drew up the report on which Al Gore based his landmark film "An Inconvenient Truth" and was, with Gore, the co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. 2. The fuel generation Berzin, an expert on alternative energy, had not expected to be included on the list. He got the news via e-mail about a month ago. "It reminded me of the feeling I had when I submitted my doctoral dissertation," he recalls. "After spending 10 years on research, I was expecting a fanfare of trumpets, but when I went to hand in the dissertation the secretary told me, 'Okay, put it there, on the table.' And you put it on the table and that's it. So it was something like that. An e-mail arrived, stating that it had been decided to place me on the respected Time list, and congratulations." He is trying to restrain himself in the face of this festive international recognition. It's important to him to remain on keel. "I am not willing to take it personally, because I see myself connected to a number of circles, and this recognition is something like a certificate of appreciation for those circles. Not for me personally. I am talking about a circle of people who decided to do something in the sphere of alternative energy. I feel that I am their representative. I also feel that I am a product of Israeli excellence, because I obtained my knowledge here, at Ben-Gurion University in Be'er Sheva. I had the privilege of being a student of incredible teachers, who watered me with a sea of knowledge. They deserve it, too; it is not my own ego trip." In a large conference hall at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Berzin declares that the world is on the threshold of a vast change. "An era has ended," he asserts without hesitation. "Until now we found a reserve of fuel and used it up. In comparison to the evolutionary process, we are at the transition from the stage of the collectors of food to the situation in which humanity began to engage in agriculture and grow food. That is what we are doing today: we are starting to grow our fuel. Our generation will go down in history as the 'fuel generation.' That generation is over. Man is moving from a situation in which he uses up the sources of energy to one in which he grows energy." Berzin's odyssey began in 1999, immediately after he obtained his Ph.D. in chemical engineering at Ben-Gurion University. He then embarked on postdoctoral studies at MIT. That was a formative moment in his career. "I was in one of the world's leading technological institutions. I was part of a NASA project to plan a facility for growing cells in the international space station. I had reached the cutting edge of the most prestigious project in NASA," he says in an unsatisfied but emphatic tone. "I was working with the best and most brilliant minds that were dealing with a hallucinatory problem: how to grow cells in the space station. At the time, buses were blowing up every day in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. That preoccupied me. I thought to myself: Dear God, fuel is killing us. After all, those terrorists are funded by fuel powers. I felt it was off the wall to be dealing with cells in space, that I should be engaged with a problem whose solution would change the world: the problem of energy." 3. Crazy decision On his desk at the time was a document issued by the U.S. Department of Energy. The idea of producing fuel from algae was not new. "It was known that vegetable oil is the original material of fuel," Berzin explains. "In the 1970s and 1980s, in the wake of the fuel crises that were spawned by political crises, the national laboratory for alternative energy in the United States decided to try to produce fuel from algae. The idea was to use power plants that emit carbon dioxide in order to raise algae and produce green fuel from them. After 20 years of research and tens of millions of dollars, they concluded that it wouldn't work. When I looked at their research, I discovered that they had actually taken carbon dioxide in a bottle and shaken it. They had not taken genuine gas emissions from power plants. I discovered that they had worked for 20 years and produced zero gallons of fuel. Twenty years and how many scientific articles? Hundreds. I realized that the project was an academic platform for them, that no one there was really determined to make fuel from algae." Berzin decided to act. He left MIT eight years ago and founded GreenFuel, whose professed aim is to produce green fuel from algae. The Israeli researcher was intent on solving the riddle that the best American researchers in the field had labored over for two decades. GreenFuel began to develop a distinctive method of reproducing algae, one that does not use up agricultural land or clean water, while at the same time consuming a considerable quantity of carbon dioxide, one of the most pernicious of the greenhouse gases. "In the technological world it was a crazy decision," he admits. "You have to be crazy to leave an institution like MIT for an uncertain future." Berzin had no money to launch his ambitious project, so he borrowed $200,000 from two close friends. "Looking back on it today," he says, "I understand how much I didn't know. Because my instincts as a scientist were not suited to the business world. As a scientist, I thought that technological excellence was the key to success. Well, it's not. A scientist who discovers something immediately rushes to tell the world; in the business world you keep your mouth shut and rush to the patent office. But I was determined. I did not want to do academic research and I did not want to write scientific papers. I wanted this thing to happen. I took an area that was considered impossible and built a platform - a business model, partners and technology. It's not by chance that in all my talks I tell the audience that there are two things they have to know about me: that I am an Israeli and that I am from MIT - two places that do not take no for an answer." In his childhood, Berzin, who grew up in Ramat Gan, kept his distance from the world of the exact sciences. "I was a colossal failure in the sciences," he reveals with unabashed relish. "My two sisters were sent to a vocational school because of their technical skills, whereas I was sent to Blich High School. Literature seemed to be a better option for me. But at Blich I met a teacher who taught me physics by means of strange stories. He talked about a fly that was sitting on a plate of hummus on a moving train. Afterward, he got to the complex formulas. I was intrigued, and because of him I drew close to science." Berzin's parents are academics: his father, an engineer, worked for Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), and his mother is an electrical engineer. "My father was an inventor, a very unconventional person. I had a passion for his work, so our home was always filled with broken machines and wrecked gears. In the 1980s, for example, there was an arrangement at IAI whereby if you come up with an efficiency proposal that saved money for the plant, you got 10 percent of the amount that was saved in the first year. My father made a lot of money that way." 4. Energy farmers Berzin established his first energy farm adjacent to the power plant at MIT. That was the inception of a historic event, because at the end of the process, fuel was produced from carbon dioxide for the first time. "I introduced the gases into the system as they were and started to grow the algae in transparent plastic pipes. In effect, you become an 'energy farmer.' The algae grow on the liquid base. In the next stage of my experiments I grew the algae in a shallow, plastic-covered pool. The algae grow in the water and divide at a wild rate. In the morning the water is green and by evening it is already black. Afterward the algae are separated from the water. Every day I harvested a third of 10 centimeters, you pump out the liquid, and every day a third of the volume is taken." And the fuel is produced from the pulp of the algae? "Exactly. You separate the algae from the water, and then you have pulp, a green sludge from which the oil is extracted. Back then, all the existing technologies to separate algae from water were too expensive. I had to find a different technology. A researcher's life is frustrating. I bear the scars of unsuccessful experiments, of a search for solutions and of failures. I remember a moment when I thought I was on the right track, and then I suddenly made a calculation and understood that the effort I had made to compress the gas was in vain. I realized that I was actually losing energy rather than producing energy." And then? "It was terribly difficult. You believe you have something, and in a split second you understand that you have nothing. And that was after building devices and investing a great deal of money. There was a crisis. I couldn't believe it was happening to me. Anyone who wants to reach the top of a hill will follow every path; sometimes the path leads to a downturn, but you must not continue just because the landscape is pretty. As soon as you identify the mistake, you have to change course. "We succeeded in finding a different path," Berzin goes on. "I remember skeptics who told me I would never achieve what I wanted. 'Do you know how much it costs to grow algae today?' they said. That in fact was a crucial stage in the chain of challenges that prevented this from being a true and profitable technology. But we did it. From an installation of one square kilometer we are now producing five million liters of green fuel a year. After the technology was demonstrated at MIT, the next stage was to take it to a real power plant. Until then I had raised enough money to do it on a small scale. Now it was time to go big. So I went to Arizona." 5. Freedom for the world What had seemed to be science fiction became a thriving, measured business. Berzin has registered 12 patents that enshrine his rights to the technology connecting an energy farm to a power plant. In 2005, in the heart of the Arizona desert, he chalked up another achievement when he set up the world's first trial project adjacent to a power plant of APS, Arizona's largest electrical utility company. The director of the advanced fuels program of APS, Raymond Hobbs, relates that his Ford has been cruising the streets of Phoenix on green fuel since 2006. "My mandate is to burn fuel and produce electricity, but we have a problem called CO2," he notes. "The good thing about Itzik's [Isaac's] technology is that we are recycling the toxin and creating a new industry. It's a win-win situation for everyone. It's not every day that you make a hole in the smokestack of a power plant that is worth billions of dollars and start to grow algae. I did it because I believed in Itzik. The first time we met, he showed up at my office with three people and said that was his whole company. I say that the size of a company does not determine the size of the head. One person's idea can bring about tremendous change. I am certain that his technology will bring mankind lots of fuel, food and peace." But it turns out that persuading Hobbs was no easy task. "I came out of the MIT hothouses with a technology and a business model, but without any money," Berzin says. "It was very hard for the electricity companies to put money into an idea like this. When Raymond first saw me enter his power plant in a suit, he muttered that he was in a hurry to get to another meeting. But in the end, if there is someone, such as me, for example, who in return for partnership in the business asks the electricity company only for the CO2 and its lands, the answer is very quickly yes. If they face no professional or economic risk, but only profit, they work with you straightaway." Financing for Berzin's project actually came from Europe, where, he says, "quality of the environment" is a genuine, deep commitment. "In Europe they made a strategic decision to shift to green, so there is billions available for green projects. To sign contracts of $300 million to build an energy farm in Arizona and a second farm in Spain at a cost of $92 million, I found European partners willing to put up the money." Some will be critical of your partnership with power plants that are polluting the atmosphere. "People who develop green technologies are considered either hallucinatory types or enemies of the free market - people who demand to work for the environment with no economic logic. I don't believe that is the right direction. The industry is aware of the environmental problem it is creating, and its alternative solution is to compress the CO2 as pure gas into the depths of the earth. But dumps like that might be released one day and cruise to the nearby city and kill millions of people before they fall to earth. Because carbon dioxide is a necessary byproduct in the burning process, the electricity companies are scared stiff, so they fight the Al Gores of the world. I am proposing a solution that not only does not cost them money, it makes money. I have turned things upside down - there is no punishment and no risk. So what's the problem? I understood that I had to solve a tremendous problem of the industry in order to actualize my green technology." Does the fuel produced from algae compete with green fuels made from corn and soy? "It turns out that the biofuels produced from corn or soy seeds - fuels that are considered the future substitute for pollutant fuel - cause environmental damage themselves. It is also not economically viable: to grow the soy beans you need leaves and roots, a whole system that supports the beans from which the oil is produced. No such system is required to grow algae. Their rate of growth is 10 to 100 times that of any other biological system. So if you have a unit of land, you can achieve orders of production that are many times higher. This is a process that does not compete for land and water resources - algae can grow in saltwater and in sewage." 6. Finger of God Berzin is already looking forward to cultural implications for his scientific-technological breakthrough. "As soon as one energy farm proves itself economically - and that will happen within a year and a half - we will be able to establish similar farms all over the world. If an energy revolution of this kind occurs in China, it will foment a strategic change in the division of the political forces on a global scale. A world in which China will not be dependent on Iran will be a different world. Some countries will lose part of their power. The message is one of energy freedom. If you have land, sun and CO2, you can grow your own energy. A revolution like this will make the world free." In the meantime, the young scientist is getting extraordinary exposure. His work was further acknowledged in a flattering article that appeared in Fortune magazine in April. But not in Israel. "My work has not received publicity here, and I can understand that," he says with characteristic softness. "Israel is constantly busy solving its own problems, which I see as a serious mistake. I want to bring about a conceptual change. I say, forget investing in solutions for Tnuva [the giant dairy and food company], and solve the problems of Wal-Mart instead." Berzin, a senior faculty member at the Interdisciplinary Center, is now busy establishing an Israel-based international institute to formulate an alternative energy policy. With the thriving market for growing algae as a source of energy - more than 250 companies and universities are engaged in this sphere - Berzin has decided to focus on setting policy. "I want Israel to become an international center of knowledge in the realm of alternative energy. The world is looking for solutions in this sphere, and in my view Israel is in a very special position. The toolbox that is needed to create solutions of this kind is here." Berzin intends to recruit his extensive connections in the energy industry for Israel's benefit. "I am a great believer in the idea that policy generates results. A case in point is the governmental policy to encourage the use of solar water heaters. That saved a great deal of energy. But I also feel a big missed opportunity because Israeli excellence has not been channeled into the energy field. I intend to establish an objective institute, which will not engage in technology development, one that will have worldwide connections and will examine the suitability of Israeli technologies for the world market. If we invest in many things we will not get far, but if we invest more in specific projects, after thorough, dedicated research, we will get very far indeed." Was that the path you followed to reach your historic achievement? "Maybe. But it was mostly the finger of God. I am not a religious person, but I have a feeling of divine providence. God is not mentioned in the Book of Esther, but from the events you understand that He is behind the scenes, that He exists. In my story, too, what I dreamt of came to be, and I often had the feeling that someone behind the scenes was helping me."W Bookmark to del.icio.us   Animated massacre Animated Israeli film at Cannes explores Sabra and Shatila massacre. Kowtowing to funders When papers are sponsored, can their reporting be truly independent?   1.   A Plant of Renown - Ezekiel 34:29 22:00  |  Mike 16/05/08   2.   Egomaniac fool 23:09  |  Wendy 16/05/08   3.   GOD BLESS Dr. Isaac Berzin 23:10  |  Dror 16/05/08   4.   Miracles, should be headline news 23:27  |  Dror 16/05/08   5.   For humanity`s sake, this man must succeed 23:30  |  McQueen 16/05/08   6.   I hope this guy has good protection 00:26  |  tooclose2detroit 17/05/08   7.   Alternative energy and Dr. Berzin 00:40  |  jerry 17/05/08   8.   Isn`t there still a problem? 01:23  |  Morris Valentine 17/05/08   9.   Not the only one in this field 01:41  |  David 17/05/08   10.   Unbelievable.Bravo.A great hope 01:46  |  Jo 17/05/08   11.   hail the messiah! 02:41  |  Axel 17/05/08   12.   Now I understand why oil dictators want to destroy Israel 03:09  |  Realist 17/05/08   13.   Is Southend-on-Sea the new Rihyad? 03:11  |  Ronnie Wolman 17/05/08   14.   I hope as soon as possible you will defeat the oil companies 03:22  |  e.m.Jordan is Palest 17/05/08   15.   I hope as soon as possible you will defeat the oil companies 03:22  |  e.m.Jordan is Palest 17/05/08   16.   I hope as soon as possible you will defeat the oil companies 03:22  |  e.m.Jordan is Palest 17/05/08   17.   I hope as soon as possible you will defeat the oil companies 03:22  |  e.m.Jordan is Palest 17/05/08   18.   I hope as soon as possible you will defeat the oil companies 03:22  |  e.m.Jordan is Palest 17/05/08   19.   I hope as soon as possible you will defeat the oil companies 03:22  |  e.m.Jordan is Palest 17/05/08   20.   I hope as soon as possible you will defeat the oil companies 03:22  |  e.m.Jordan is Palest 17/05/08   21.   Morris Valentine, not so 03:30  |  Genuine Tosefta 17/05/08   22.   AND WHAT HAVE THE ARABS DONE LATELY, MAKE BOMBS AND HATE PEOPLE 04:05  |  Doc Holliday 17/05/08   23.   5 million litres / square kilometre / year 04:16  |  Very little 17/05/08   24.   Cranks 05:19  |  Rowan 17/05/08   25.   #25 very little - not if you look at the maths 05:22  |  reuben jacobs 17/05/08   26.   Algae 05:24  |  Observer 17/05/08   27.   algae energy 05:25  |  dan 17/05/08   28.   jo;;y green gian 05:52  |  kurt 17/05/08   29.   Very little brains 06:05  |  Oddvark 17/05/08   30.   Oddvark 06:29  |  Enoch 17/05/08   31.   #11 Axel 06:45  |  MR 17/05/08   32.   To GT (#21) 07:14  |  Morris Valentine 17/05/08   33.   Will not Replace Oil 09:01  |  Gary 17/05/08   34.   Ignorance is stregth 09:37  |  no name 17/05/08   35.   Green Giant 10:29  |  Rolf Mehlhorn 17/05/08   36.   Algae - is far away from industrial applications 10:36  |  Haim R. Branisteanu 17/05/08   37.   #25 redo your calculation - y are mistaken 10:43  |  Haim R. Branisteanu 17/05/08   38.   This is possible and should be done 11:52  |  Dror 17/05/08   39.   Spoilers 12:25  |  Dror 17/05/08   40.   CO2 Reduction? 13:14  |  Ulrik 17/05/08   41.   Algea 13:51  |  Butch 17/05/08   42.   Time is near, the future is closer than ever 14:00  |  Oscar 17/05/08   43.   Haim R. Branisteanu #35 Quite right. 15:24  |  S 17/05/08   44.   to #43 17:00  |  Haim 17/05/08   45.   This WILL help 18:18  |  W Snell 17/05/08   46.   carbon footprint, genocide tracks... 22:40  |  CCRider 17/05/08   47.   This guy`s No Einstein 23:16  |  fred 17/05/08

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