What's on menu? Seaweed.

I recently learned something that completely rewired a tiny part of my brain, and because I refuse to suffer this alone, I’m passing it on to you. So, I was sitting innocently in a lecture by renowned people from the industry, listening to the evolving sustainability market and the continued efforts by them, or somebody around the world working in this domain, when suddenly a gentleman walks up on stage and casually announces that his company makes energy out of seaweed.

Seaweed.
Yes, the same slippery green thing you avoid stepping on at the beach, the one that clings to your foot like it’s trying to bond with you emotionally. Apparently, that thing can run engines. Cars. Maybe planes one day. At this point, nothing surprises me. Well, not entirely true, there’s always room for more. It might actually rain cats and dogs someday, don’t wanna take shock away just yet.

There I was, blinking as I'd just been smacked with a wet kelp leaf, wondering how on Earth I had never heard of this. You’d think something like this would already be international gossip material. “BREAKING: Seaweed not just used as 'Nori’, but now as something that powers vehicles!” But no. The algorithm failed us.

As the presentation went on, I learned that making biofuel from seaweed isn’t some wild, futuristic concept. It’s literally: grow seaweed (which the ocean already does for free), extract its sugars, ferment it, and boom—biofuel. The same way we use corn or sugarcane, but without the guilt of stealing farmland from farmers or water from literally everyone else.

And it gets better. As this man continued talking, it dawned on me: seaweed solves so many of the problems that regular biofuels drag around like emotional baggage. Land scarcity? Seaweed floats. Water usage? The ocean would like to speak to you. Fertilizers? Seaweed said, “No thanks, I got this.” Growth rate? Some species shoot up half a metre a day! Yes, a day; I just wish I had this rate of growth in my personal life. Unlike corn, seaweed doesn’t require land, doesn’t need freshwater, grows faster than your unread email count, and politely vacuums excess CO₂ and cleans up polluted waters.

So naturally, the next question in my head was: If this is so amazing, why aren’t we already running the world on kelp juice? Ah, but of course, scaling things in the real world takes time, money, infrastructure, and people who are brave enough to say sentences like “trust me, the seaweed will handle it.” Which sounds almost like a made-up fantasy for the most part. But until that day arrives, companies (like the one our presenter works for) are building massive seaweed farms, harvesting them, and turning them into real, usable biofuel. This is no longer somebody’s PhD fever dream; it’s an industry taking shape.

Personally, I found this whole thing astonishing. And exciting. And slightly hilarious. Because when you’ve spent years reading about climate change solutions, you don’t usually expect to discover that the ocean has been quietly hiding a green energy factory in plain sight. It’s like finding out your quiet neighbour is secretly a world-famous author, you’ve known them forever, but never realised they were out there dropping best-sellers while you were watering your plant.

And now, every time I hear the word “seaweed,” I no longer think of sushi or beach vacations gone wrong. I think of fuel, engines, the future, and the possibility that one day I might fill up my vehicle with a fuel generated by cutting down the supply on sushi, just kidding, that’ll fire up a global revolt. And honestly? Our planet being saved by slimy green ocean plants is exactly the plot twist this century deserves, I mean of course paired with Will (from ‘Stranger Things’ on Netflix. Keep up!) finding out he has powers as well. Maybe Vecna’s son? Never mind, that’ll be a detailed talk for sure!

It was news to me personally, hence I thought I’d share that, might as well serve the purpose of promoting this idea and highlighting that the most obvious things in the world, which are basically out there, provided to us by the Earth, can solve the problems we have created using other resources from the same source. Cause and cure at the same doorstep.

Seaweed might not replace all our fuels tomorrow morning, but it’s definitely inching (or growing half a metre) closer to becoming a real player in the clean energy space. And now that you know this too, you can join me in feeling oddly hopeful—and slightly amused—that the future might just smell faintly of the ocean, in the best possible way.