Algae Aqua-culture Technology Inc. of Whitefish, Montana turns industrial waste into electricity

Swiping his finger across an iPad touch screen, Michael Smith calibrated the high-tech components powering his energy company’s Green Power House, an octagonal dome which, despite its futuristic appearance and an operating system reliant on Artificial Intelligence, is basically a sophisticated form of composting.

Smith, a mathematician, physicist and former software engineer in San Francisco, is president and co-founder of Algae Aqua-culture Technology Inc. http://www.algaeaqua.com/AACT/Welcome.html (AACT) based in Whitefish. He and a small staff of scientists have engineered a system that uses industrial waste, like wood chips from the lumber manufacturing process, to cultivate algae and convert it into methane and electricity.

The technology, Smith said, will help reduce the carbon footprint of polluting industries like timber and coal while providing cleaner, low-carbon energy alternatives and lucrative new revenue streams.

By Tristan Scott

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/whitefish-company-turns-industrial-waste-into-electricity/article_60fff644-aa17-11e2-9ee0-0019bb2963f4.html