Why “DANCING JJ”?

At the early stage of our project’s conception, we were inspired by a poetic image: algae resemble green jelly — soft, translucent, and full of vitality — while also echoing the elegance of jade in traditional Chinese culture, symbolizing purity and life. When bathed in the rhythm of light and sound, these algae seem to come alive, dancing like living jades or shimmering jellies. It was from this harmonious fusion of nature, culture, and art that our journey toward a net-zero future first began.

Issue

Atmospheric CO₂ levels continue to rise.

According to an analysis by the NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory, carbon dioxide accounts for 80% of the total heating influence of all man-made greenhouse gases since 1990. Due to CO₂'s natural characteristic of absorbing and radiating heat from Earth's crust into our atmosphere and back into Earth's crust, effectively trapping all the heat in our globe (Lindsey, 2025). As atmospheric CO₂ levels continue to rise, the phenomenon becomes more and more prevalent, raising temperatures year after year.

Peak temperatures are rising every single year, raising the assumption that the entirety of the globe is getting warmer. However, that is not the case as studied by Zhang et. al. (2022) examining that temperatures are rising at different rates from region to region with nonuniform trends. Tropical and Polar regions are affected more and its climate shifts substantially (Zhang et. al., 2022).

Just as our global temperature continues to rise, CO₂ also reacts with sea water, essentially increasing dissolved HCO3- ions. The result is gradual decrease in pH levels in oceans. In the past two centuries, the pH level of surface ocean water has decreased by 0.1, a near 30% increase in acidity. The dramatic acidification of the ocean has affected some, if not many, species of marine life globally, potentially shifting or destroying the pre-existing food web (NOAA, 2025).

The UNEP warns the world that each nation should collectively cut down carbon emissions by some 40% by 2030 in order to conform to the 1.5°C cap in the Paris Agreement (UN, 2024). Therefore, the team wants to evaluate and solve the issue from the very bottom by increasing carbon fixation through algal organisms.

Will accessible fossil fuel sources ever run out?

Fossil fuels (coal, oil, and gas) are the main source of energy worldwide; however, they are considered unsustainable due to them being finite, non-renewable resources that take millions of years to produce. Calculations made by a modified version of the Klass model assuming a continuous compound rate show that crude oil and gas will soon deplete in the next 30 years (Shafiee & Topal, 2008). Our team has studied many predictions by researchers, concluding that the world may have a shortage of accessible fossil fuels in the next 50 years.

Extensive urbanization and deforestation

Cities are responsible for close to 70% of global CO₂ emissions associated with energy consumption. In North America, the proportion reaches 80% depending upon the definition of emissions scope and urban boundary. From 1970 to 2018, the urban population of the world increased from 1.35 billion to 4.22 billion (Lugman et. al., 2023). The world has achieved rapid urbanization development since 1970, at the same time, the cumulative CO₂ emissions generated by human activities accounted for about half of the total since the Industrial Revolution.

The trees of tropical forests, like all green plants, take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and release oxygen during photosynthesis. When forests are cut down due to urbanization, much of that stored carbon is released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide since humans end up using it as fuel. Urbanization leads to large area deforestation and forest degradation, which in result, contributes to global warming. ("Tropical Deforestation and Global Warming", 2021)

Current Solutions

The current global solution to the issue on carbon emissions include a variety of strategic methods. Two of the most significant being the reduction of fossil fuel dependence and the further advances of Carbon capture and storage (CCS).

Part I: Renewable energy to compensate for Fossil fuel. Many countries are utilizing policies such as carbon taxes as well as stricter regulations in order to promote more environmentally friendly conditions (BGS, n.d.). Renewable energy sources currently being utilized such as solar, wind, and hydro-energy are scaled up rapidly in hopes of replacing fossil fuels. However, they don't suffice for all divisions of the economy. Heavy industries which encompass cement, steel and aviation rely on carbon-intensive energy sources since technology has yet to reach the same levels of the efficiency required (Shafiee & Topal, 2008). Concurrently, renewable energy deployment is diverse across our planet, as the accessibility and scalability heavily rely on geographical conditions.

Part II: Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) presents another solution under development. By capturing carbon dioxide emissions at the source and storing them underground, CCS reduces the release of carbon emissions into our beloved atmosphere (Boot-Handford et. al., 2014). Beyond this storage solution, captured carbon can even be utilized and converted to essential chemicals and fuels, potentially reducing some cost involved in this technology. However, CCS can still face disadvantages. The infrastructure that is required to construct and sustain a CCS projects require surmount financial stress, and CCS projects are strenuous to scale to rural and developing regions (UN, 2024). Safety concerts also are a prominent concern for long term stability of underground storage due to leaks or geological changes that could release the once stored carbon back out into the atmosphere.

Thus, while renewable energy expansion and CCS technology disclose crucial steps towards our goal of reducing global carbon emissions, both strategies present technological, economic, and financial hurdles.

Our Solution

Our solution includes using the algae Emiliana huxleyi to absorb CO₂ and produce lipids and calcite. Through photosynthesis, microalgae E. huxleyi can remove CO₂ from the atmosphere and provide a sustainable form of carbon sequestration (Vicente, 2019) Coccolithophores, single-cell algae like E. huxleyi, are useful for the capture and storage of CO₂ since they can not only photosynthesize, but also produce coccoliths, which has multiple uses. Coccolithophores contribute 1-10% to the total organic carbon fixation, thus highlighting their importance in the reduction of CO₂ (Bach et. al., 2013).

Incorporating into cities

Algae have been incorporated into numerous cities as part of art projects, and can also be integrated into buildings, making them an increasingly abundant resource in urban societies (Cervera, 2024). This highlights the significance of our solution, as it can further develop the benefits that algae are bringing.

How our solution is better

Additionally, E. huxleyi can produce lipids that can be purified into usable BioFuels, a renewable fuel source that can substitute regular fossil fuels we use every single day. Even though BioFuels rerelease carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere, the algae can recycle the CO₂, providing energy while maintaining carbon net-zero overall. As a result, by genetically modifying E. huxleyi so that it can produce larger amounts of lipids, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can be reduced both through being stored in the coccoliths, as well as through providing a more sustainable fuel source.

Although there are many forms of reducing carbon dioxide, our solution provides a holistic approach to carbon fixation. Usual methods of carbon fixation include planting trees to absorb CO₂ and using renewable energy sources to prevent further CO₂ production. Both strategies target the reduction of carbon dioxide, but through different ways. However, our solution merges these two approaches, as E. huxleyi can both take in CO₂ and produce biodiesel to limit CO₂ created by using fossil fuels.

Our Project

Why did we choose E. huxleyi to build our tank?

At the beginning of designing our project, the team sought a target algae that is able to transform CO₂ in our atmosphere into useful byproducts. In the end, Emiliana huxleyi was chosen for its many beneficial properties, with drawbacks however.

Part I. E. huxleyi was ultimately chosen for two main reasons: Lipids and coccoliths. This algae specifically fixes carbon into long-chain alkenone lipids in the cell, which can be further broken down by cross-metathesis and refined to be used as biofuel (O'Neil et. al., 2015). Secondly, this algae can produce coccoliths that can fix carbon permanently without re-releasing CO₂ into the atmosphere. The coccoliths are mainly composed of calcite, making it a great equivalent if not better than previous methods of collecting calcite from limestone through excessive grinding and refining. The coccoliths offer a uniform particle shape which is a limitation of using traditional methods of grinding limestone where particle shapes and sizes are random (Jakob et. al., 2017).

Countering the slow growth rate of E. huxleyi

Part I: DGA1 enzyme induces lipid production in an organism by catalyzing the final step of the synthesizing of triacylglycerol through acylation ("DGA1 / YOR245C Overview", n.d.). This gene will be cloned under the control of the CMVp promoter and inserted into the Y312 vector backbone. Successful expression of the gene should theoretically encode the DGA1 enzyme which is a catalyst for lipid production.

Part II: NCE103 enzyme drives the carbonic anhydrase reaction which in the process forms the building block (HCO₃-) to enhance coccolith generation. The gene is proven to function substantially better under low CO₂ conditions, capturing all the residual CO₂ around the organism. This gene will be cloned under the control of the CMVp promoter and inserted into the Y312 vector backbone. Successful expression of the gene should theoretically encode the NCE103 enzyme which produces HCO3- ions, which will benefit the formation of calcites in the coccoliths ("NCE103 / YNL036W Overview",n.d.).

Part III: CA9 protein drives the carbonic anhydrase reaction which in the process forms the building block (HCO₃-) to enhance coccolith generation. This gene will be cloned under the control of the CMVp promoter and inserted into the Y312 vector backbone. Successful expression of the gene should theoretically encode the CA9 protein which produces HCO₃- ions, which will benefit the formation of calcites in the coccoliths ("CA9 carbonic anhydrase 9", n.d.).

This theoretically allows to counter the slow growth rate of E. huxleyi. We hold that with the successful insertion and expression of these genes on E. huxleyi, the algae can yield more lipids and coccoliths per batch even if the algae grows at a slow or even slower rate.

References