How Barbados Transformed a Seaweed Crisis Into a Revolutionary Renewable Energy Solution

For more than a decade, the Caribbean island nation of Barbados has battled an unwelcome visitor washing up on its pristine shores. Massive quantities of brown sargassum seaweed have inundated beaches, creating foul odors as the algae decomposed and threatening the tourism industry that sustains approximately 30% of the island’s pre-pandemic GDP and employs 28% of the workforce. Resort owners spend millions annually removing the invasive plant, with luxury properties reporting cleanup costs in the millions and some facing sargassum pileups reaching six feet high. By 2018, Prime Minister Mia Mottley declared sargassum a national emergency as the crisis intensified.

Today, that same environmental scourge has become the cornerstone of one of the Caribbean’s most promising renewable energy innovations. Young Barbadian researchers at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Cave Hill campus have pioneered a groundbreaking method to convert sargassum seaweed and rum distillery wastewater into biomethane biofuel—a clean energy source capable of powering vehicles and helping the nation achieve its ambitious goal of becoming completely fossil-fuel-free by 2030.

The Tourism Crisis Behind the Innovation

Barbados faces a unique geographical vulnerability to sargassum influxes. As the easternmost island in the Lesser Antilles, it’s the first land encountered by Atlantic currents carrying the seaweed into the Caribbean. The island’s triangular shape exposes almost half of its coastline—featuring the white sand beaches and turquoise waters that define paradise tourism—to regular sargassum inundation.

The seaweed’s arrival typically begins each year around January, intensifying between May and September. When sargassum reaches shore and begins decomposing in the tropical heat, it releases toxic gases including hydrogen sulfide and ammonia, creating the distinctive smell of rotten eggs. These emissions pose respiratory health risks, with fishers and coastal workers reporting breathing difficulties, skin rashes, and ear infections from exposure.

For an economy heavily dependent on beach tourism, the impact has been devastating. Hotels dispatch staff each morning to clear beaches before guests arrive, but massive waves and winds can pile the seaweed several feet high again by afternoon. At some beaches, bulldozers work four hours daily just to restore sand access. Across the islands’ east coast, at least 500 forklifts conduct cleanup operations every morning during peak influx periods.

The Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association reports that members have experienced reduced hotel occupancy during major sargassum events, resulting in foreign exchange losses for the nation. Former BHTA Chairman, Renée Coppin, notes the “concomitant negative outcomes” for bookings whenever sargassum blankets the shoreline. Some properties have resorted to transporting guests to unaffected beaches at significant additional expense, while others face prolonged periods of restricted beach access.

The environmental damage extends beyond aesthetics and odor. Sargassum inundations smother coral reefs and seagrasses, blocking sunlight essential for their survival. Marine biologist Micaela Small documents coral bleaching at tourist hotspot Brownes Beach, where species like Porites astreoides expel their symbiotic algae and become vulnerable to death. The seaweed also fouls water quality as it decomposes offshore, triggering algae blooms and threatening fishing grounds that local communities depend upon.

Beach erosion represents another concern. While natural sargassum accumulation causes some erosion, the heavy machinery required to remove it damages beaches that took thousands of years to form, potentially destroying turtle nesting sites and other sensitive coastal ecosystems.

From Environmental Crisis to Energy Opportunity

The breakthrough emerged from an unexpected moment of inspiration in 2019. Brittney McKenzie, a microbiology student participating in a summer research internship, was riding in a van taxi along Barbados’ coastal road when she noticed trucks hauling loads of sargassum from the beaches—a scene that had become ubiquitous on an island struggling with mounting tourism and environmental costs. Her team had been struggling to develop an alternative fuel source for the island, initially focusing on sugarcane ethanol similar to Brazil’s successful program. However, Barbados no longer cultivated enough sugarcane to make that approach viable.

McKenzie rushed to share her insight with Dr. Legena Henry, an internationally recognized renewable energy expert who had established her laboratory at UWI Cave Hill. Despite existing research questioning sargassum’s viability as biofuel, Henry encouraged her student to pursue the idea. Within two weeks, preliminary experiments produced remarkably positive results. The combination of sargassum and rum distillery wastewater was generating significant amounts of biogas through anaerobic digestion.

The innovation addresses multiple challenges simultaneously. Barbados imports fossil fuels for approximately 95% of its energy needs, resulting in some of the Caribbean’s highest electricity costs—around 30 U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour. Residents pay roughly four times what Americans pay per kilometer driven, despite earning one-fifth the average U.S. salary. The island also imports most of its food, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions while making the nation vulnerable to supply chain disruptions. Converting locally abundant waste materials into fuel offers both environmental and economic advantages while potentially solving the tourism-threatening sargassum crisis.

The Science Behind the Sustainable Solution

The biofuel production process combines three key components: sargassum seaweed, rum distillery wastewater, and sheep manure that provides essential anaerobic bacteria. These materials undergo anaerobic digestion for approximately 30 days, producing biomethane gas. Different ratios and formulations yield varying amounts of biogas per gram of feedstock, allowing researchers to optimize the process.

Unlike beached sargassum that has already begun decomposing, the Rum and Sargassum company plans to harvest fresh seaweed from deeper waters using specially equipped catamarans with conveyor belt systems. This approach ensures higher quality feedstock while preventing the algae from reaching shores where it causes environmental and economic damage. Dr. Henry notes that Barbados’ geographical position offers an unexpected advantage: the sargassum arriving on its shores is relatively “pure,” containing fewer heavy metals than seaweed that has absorbed pollutants elsewhere during its Atlantic journey.

The resulting biomethane can power modified vehicles or be upgraded for injection into electrical generators connected to Barbados’ national grid. Converting existing gasoline-powered vehicles to run on biomethane requires only a four-hour installation process costing approximately $2,500—far more affordable than purchasing new electric vehicles that remain financially out of reach for most Barbadians.

Caribbean First: Launching the Bio-CNG Vehicle

In September 2024, Barbados achieved a regional milestone by launching the Caribbean’s first vehicle powered by bio-compressed natural gas derived from sargassum. The pilot project features a specially modified Nissan Leaf provided by the Caribbean Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency. This demonstration represents years of research, patent applications, and collaboration between university scientists, government officials, and international funding organizations.

Dr. Henry’s company, Rum and Sargassum Inc., secured crucial early-stage funding from the Blue Chip Foundation, which pledged $100,000 in seed money after Henry presented findings at a United Nations global climate solutions summit. The startup has since partnered with the Barbados National Oil Company and received support from the Inter-American Development Bank, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and the HIT RESET Caribbean initiative.

Senator Lisa Cummins, Barbados’ Minister of Energy and Business, emphasized the innovation’s significance during the vehicle launch. With 150,000 fossil fuel vehicles currently on island roads, this technology offers a practical pathway toward the nation’s net-zero carbon emissions targets. If scaled successfully, the biofuel could prevent approximately 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually while reducing fuel costs by half for vehicle owners.

Youth-Driven Innovation Reshaping Barbados

The sargassum biofuel breakthrough exemplifies a broader trend of young Barbadians developing climate-focused innovations tailored to their island’s unique circumstances. Members of what researchers call the “Climate Generation”—those born since 1989—are transforming sectors from agriculture to technology through a sustainability lens, often without identifying primarily as climate activists.

Biologist Shamika Spencer joined Henry’s team to experiment with different combinations of sargassum and rum wastewater, determining optimal ratios for maximum biogas production. In 2024, Spencer traveled to the University of San Diego to collaborate with American researchers developing biofuel from kelp and beer wastewater. Her work highlighted how local environmental factors—such as whether sheep are grass-fed—significantly impact biofuel production efficiency.

Entrepreneur Joshua Forte represents another facet of Barbados’ sargassum innovation ecosystem. After beginning by growing leafy greens for a pet iguana, Forte recognized opportunities to address the island’s dependence on imported food while tackling the sargassum problem. His company, Red Diamond Compost Inc., produces organic fertilizers and plant biostimulants using sargassum as a base ingredient.

Forte’s Supreme Sea Horticultural Biostimulant earned recognition through the Commonwealth Innovation Award in 2021 and has demonstrated significant improvements in plant growth when combined with reduced synthetic fertilizer use. Trials conducted in the United Kingdom showed positive variations in lawn turf after 42 days, while tests on food crops like tomatoes and cucumbers yielded similarly encouraging results.

Chemistry graduate Kerri-Ann Bovell developed a biodegradable film-like material from sargassum and agricultural waste during her final year at UWI Cave Hill. Her innovation offers alternatives to plastic wrap for agricultural applications like weed suppression and mulch, as well as potential uses in cosmetics.

Overcoming Funding Challenges in the Developing World

Despite remarkable innovations, Barbadian entrepreneurs face persistent challenges accessing capital. Structural factors in global finance penalize investors for supporting projects in developing countries through foreign exchange risks and perceived political uncertainties. Even when projects demonstrate clear viability, the cost of capital remains prohibitively high for ventures in less wealthy nations.

This funding gap poses problems beyond Barbados itself. Countries on climate change’s front lines often possess the most pressing motivation and practical experience to develop solutions that the entire world may soon need. Yet relatively little of the $867 billion that the United States, China, and the European Union invested in climate sector research and development in 2022 reached developing nations.

Prime Minister Mottley has become an increasingly prominent voice advocating for reformed international financial systems to address climate challenges. Her administration argues that global banking institutions must create new mechanisms to alleviate debt pressure when climate disasters strike, while also unlocking private capital to support climate innovations in developing countries.

Mottley emphasizes that most funding for climate adaptation and mitigation will ultimately come from private sector investment, not foreign aid. She regularly notes that the United Nations estimates the world needs $2.4 trillion annually to address climate change—more than ten times the total foreign aid distributed globally for all purposes.

Building a Sustainable Caribbean Future

The sargassum biofuel project positions Barbados as a model for climate adaptation and innovation that other small island developing states might replicate. Professor Jules Pretty of the University of Essex observes that young people in these vulnerable regions recognize that their future depends on taking action. The climate crisis simultaneously threatens their existence and creates opportunities to build entirely new economic sectors.

Rum and Sargassum Inc. aims to scale production sufficiently to supply fuel to 300 taxis initially, requiring approximately $2 million for demonstrating commercial viability and $7.5 million to reach that milestone. Long-term projections envision supplying biofuel to 100,000 vehicles—roughly 75% of all vehicles in Barbados.

Beyond transportation, researchers at UWI Cave Hill are developing additional sargassum-based products, including applications for pest control and diabetes treatment. This diversification reflects Mottley’s vision of developing “technologies of our own kind” that play to Barbadian strengths while capturing local imagination.

The next phase includes constructing a biogas production station at Guinea Estate, serving as both a commercial facility and demonstration site for circular economy principles. The digestate byproduct from biogas production will fertilize agricultural land, creating sustainable cycles where waste from one process becomes a resource for another.

A Model for Global Climate Innovation

Barbados’ transformation of sargassum from crisis to opportunity demonstrates how small nations facing disproportionate climate vulnerabilities can become leaders in developing practical solutions. The approach offers potential relief not only for energy costs but also for the tourism sector that has suffered mounting losses from beach inundations.

Chef Michael Hinds, who owns a restaurant on Barbados’ west coast and plans to restore an abandoned fish market at Skeetes Bay, exemplifies stakeholders hoping the innovation will protect tourism and hospitality ventures. His concern about unsightly and smelly sargassum blooms deterring customers at his planned “farm to table” operation reflects broader industry anxieties. Partnerships between entrepreneurs like Hinds and companies developing sargassum applications aim to intercept the seaweed offshore, keeping beaches clear while creating economic value.

Minister Cummins characterizes the biofuel breakthrough as a “regional and global first-mover opportunity” that could revolutionize how the entire Caribbean approaches both transportation energy and coastal management—potentially saving the paradise beach experience that visitors expect and the tourism economy depends upon.

The project’s success reflects careful cultivation of youth talent, strategic partnerships, and willingness to pursue unconventional ideas. Henry credits her MIT mentors with teaching her never to shut down student enthusiasm—a philosophy that directly enabled McKenzie’s sargassum breakthrough.

As climate change accelerates, the world increasingly requires innovations developed by those most immediately affected by environmental disruption. Young Barbadians exercising what Mottley calls “cultural confidence” to develop locally appropriate technologies may pioneer solutions that eventually serve global needs. Their work transforms invasive seaweed choking Caribbean beaches into fuel powering a sustainable future—proving that environmental challenges, approached with creativity and determination, can become engines of innovation and opportunity.

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