I came across this interesting tidbit ...

... as I was putting together the introduction for a proceedings paper I'm currently writing. According to the Final Report to the DOE (Department of Energy) by the PETC (Pittsburgh Energy Technology Center), they figured that based on the operating costs incurred by generating 60 grams of algae/meter squared/day and selling the resulting energy at $0.065/kWhr that the cost of a barrel of algal oil would be between $39 and $42 dollars depending on where you got your carbon dioxide from (pure versus captured flue gas).

A link to the final report (PDF) is provided.

Of course, during the same time (1996), a barrel of crude oil was in the range of $20/barrel, making the venture too expensive. Ten years later, the old 1990's algal technology would be turning a hefty profit when compared to current crude oil prices.