1 © Giovanni Frigo, 2016. Do not distribute, copy, quote, or otherwise reuse this material without the author’s express permission Algae Harvesting and Energy Ethics: An Opportunity to Enhance Responsibility Towards Future Generations? Giovanni Frigo Department of Philosophy and Religion University of North Texas The original article can be found in Roman Meinhold, Energy Ethics. Intergenerational Perspectives in and for the ASEAN Region. Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation. Bangkok. 2016 Abstract: Recent improvements in algal microbiology and bio-engineering are paving the way for a possible partial switch to algae-based energy systems. This paper argues that some technological energy arrangements, such as algae harvesting systems (e.g. NASA’s OMEGA project), have the potential not only to treat waste waters, absorb CO2 and generate sustainable biofuel, but also to enhance a new politics and ethics of energy. An effective transition out of the fossil fuel era requires both a switch to renewable energies sources and systems and a cultural change of mentality, that is, a transformation of how we think of and relate to energy. Through the improvement of our understanding of fundamental concepts related to energy and sustainability, the emergent field of energy humanities may enrich energy studies in positive ways. Sitting at the crossroads of applied ethics, environmental ethics and STS, energy ethics is a key area of inquiry concerning energy issues. Traditional moral themes (e.g. responsibility and moral concern for future generations) as well as complex cultural ideas (e.g. sustainability, progress, justice) might be analyzed with renewed philosophical acumen. However, this humanistic approach to energy studies should not be separated from the technical understanding of energy devices and systems. In the age of the Anthropocene, energy humanities and energy ethics may provide a more nuanced conceptual analysis of crucial cultural ideas related to energy, while adding some foresightedness and moral depth to the necessary energy transition out of our petrocultures. 1. Introduction: Is There a Need for a New, an Energy, Ethic? In the decades following the aftermath of World War II, the dawn of a global ecological crisis brought philosophers such as Richard Routley to pose the question of whether or not there was a need for a new, an environmental, ethic. 1 Current predictions regarding the shortage of fundamental resources (i.e. fossil fuels) and their probable future unavailability are producing growing tensions on a global scale. This reality suggests the need for a similar philosophical investigation that asks: is there a need for a new, an energy, ethic? Since the late 1960s, there has been an emergence of environmental philosophy and ethics aimed at providing innovative conceptual tools to tackle unprecedented and intertwined environmental and social issues. Even though the theme of energy has been part of the discussion from its very 1 Richard Routley, “Is There a Need for a New, an Evironmental, Ethic?,” Proceedings of the XVth World Congress of Philosophy, 17-22 September, 1973, Varna, Bulgaria, 1973, 205–10. Along with the first course in environmental ethics taught by John B. Callicott in 1971 at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point and the establishment by Eugene Hargrove of the Journal Environmental Ethics in 1979, Routley’s article is sometimes recognized as one of the cornerstones of the academic disciplines known as environmental philosophy and environmental ethics.