Algae-Powered Sustainable Community Design Life Cycle Assessment and Techno-Economic Analysis

Microalgae as a feedstock source for biofuels has been researched extensively over the last decade as the renewable energy community strives to find an environmentally-responsible and economically-feasible source of transportation fuel. This study focuses on microalgae not as a source of transportation fuel, but a fundamental pillar of sustainable rural communities seeking to achieve net-zero energy and waste status. Sources of sustenance, waste streams, energy demands, energy production, and recycle methods are evaluated in this life cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis to determine if a rural community can achieve a state of neutrality and self-sustainability. A functional unit of 20,000 MJ/yr corresponding to the energy demand of a 902-person community modeled after a town in Georgia. The model revealed that the total available land for algae production was 7.45 ha but only 0.02 ha was required for producing 20,000 MJ/yr, our functional unit in this study. At this magnitude of algae cultivatio...