how many square kilometres of algae farm would be needed?

Question

A particular algae can be grown at a rate of 30 grams per square metre per day, producing 0.016 litres of biodiesel with an energy density of 9.8 kWh per litre. If it was necessary to produce biodiesel with energy content of 4 kWh/p/d for every person in Australia (population 23 million), how many square kilometres of algae farm would be needed?

Answer 1

the salient point here is that 1 square meter will yield 9.8 kWh per day

the need, however, is only 4 kWh per day

 

thus (4/9.8) * 23,000,000 = 9,384,000 square meters