The typical cost of SolarBees for algae control in a large lake is less than 10% of the cost of herbicides, and with none of the toxicity issues of herbicides. And because the SolarBee method is a bio-manipulation approach, nutrient loading becomes nearly irrelevant. Furthermore, in addition to eliminating HABs, solar-powered circulators have also demonstrated that, with closer spacing, they can eliminate some invasive aquatic weed species from lakes. Multi-year success has been recorded with Eurasian Watermilfoil and several other nuisance and invasive submerged aquatic plant species in over a dozen lakes.Lake and reservoir degradation associated with nutrient enrichment and subsequent eutrophication is getting worse worldwide, and economic consequences in the near future will be much greater. The US has an estimated 14,000 lakes over 125 acres in size, 110,000 lakes from 10 to125 acres in size, and 1,000,000 lakes and ponds less than 10 acres in size. About 60% of Americans get their drinking water from these lakes, and about 60% of them have harmful algae blooms (HABs), usually consisting of blue-green algae (cyanobacteria). It has been long known that blue-green algae blooms degrade water quality in terms of taste, odor, aesthetics, and health of the food chain. Eliminating HABs and associated negative impacts have greatly increased the cost of operating a drinking water treatment plant.

Furthermore, recent testing by many states indicates that the majority of HABs creates harmful microcystins and other potent toxins that could lead to long-term liver damage and other health problems in humans, possibly even Alzheimer's disease. In recent years, Nebraska has experienced increased animal deaths from HABs prompting the posting of various health alerts for several important lakes. Oregon has also been posting frequent health alerts and/or warnings at some of its most important lakes for several years. It appears that many more states will be following the lead of these two states, as well as the World Health Organization guidelines regarding HABs, and will be posting more health warnings at their lakes to avoid possible liability in the event of death or illness of people and/or animals. So the negative impacts of HABs are not only the aesthetic and public health and water treatment costs, the impact will also increasingly extend to the recreation industry, the resort industry, and property values as more states start closing more lakes during their peak seasons.

Nutrient Control does not achieve HAB control: The EPA's national TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load, of nutrients) program for watershed protection, though an essential long-term strategy for protecting our lakes, is not eliminating HABs. In the 35 years since the Clean Water Act of 1970, there are virtually no lakes that can be pointed to where nutrient reduction of non-point sources through watershed protection activities sustainably reduced or eliminated a HAB problem. Even in watersheds where millions of dollars have been spent to meet TMDLs, detrimental HABs have continued or, in many cases, became worse.

In addition to watershed protection, hundreds of millions of dollars have also been spent on in-lake approaches to stop HABs, but virtually no lake can be pointed to where the HABs were eliminated with those methods. In virtually all cases the HABs remained the same or became worse. These methods include alum applications to stop "internal loading" or re-cycling of phosphorus, aeration, hypolimnetic aeration, hypolimnetic oxygenation, bottom water release, drawdown, dredging, top-down strategies such as rotenone of a lake to kill all of the fish, reed rafts, calcium additions, and others. Aquatic herbicides can give short-term relief from HABs, at a typical cost of $300 to $1000 per acre per year or more, but they all have ecologically harmful immediate effects and unknown long-term effects.

What does work to control HABs: HABs typically require 1) nutrients, even a low level is usually enough (i.e., dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus), 2) suitable temperatures, and 3) quiescent or stagnant waters. As discussed above, controlling nutrient availability has not been effective at preventing HABs. However, it has been recognized in the scientific literature for several decades that creating enough horizontal and vertical water movement can sufficiently disrupt HABs' preferred quiescent habitat so that they do not grow and virtually disappear from the water column. This allows available nutrients to be taken up by non-blue-green algae (e.g., diatoms, chlorophytes, etc.). This is a real benefit to the ecosystem, as these non-toxic algae are readily consumed by zooplankton and fish, thus enhancing the food chain and improving water clarity while reducing the amount algal biomass in the water column as well as algal biomass that settles and decompose on the lake bottom.

Before the SolarBee there was no practical way to create sufficient mixing in a lake beyond 10-20 acres to effectively prevent HABs. With the SolarBee's unique and patented design, however, one unit can prevent HABs in a 35 acres lake. Because the mixing capability is additive, lakes of any size can be treated with multiple units.