Sapphire jewelry. They also may be created synthetically in laboratories for industrial or decorative purposes in large crystal boules. Because of the remarkable hardness of sapphires – 9 on the Mohs scale (the third hardest mineral, after diamond at 10 and moissanite at 9.5) – sapphires are also used in some non-ornamental applications, such as infrared optical components, high-durability windows, wristwatch crystals and movement bearings, and very thin electronic wafers, which are used as the insulating substrates of very special-purpose solid-state electronics (especially integrated circuits and GaN-based LEDs). Sapphire is the birthstone for September and the gem of the 45th anniversary.
Sapphire Energy Sapphire Energy Sapphire Energy is a San Diego-based American energy company that produces crude oil made from algae. Sapphire Energy was founded in 2007. As of February 2014, Sapphire Energy employs over 150 employees. The company is headquartered in San Diego, Calif., and has an engineering office in Orange County, Calif. and a Research and Development facility in Las Cruces, NM. In addition, the company's Green Crude Farm, the world's first commercial demonstration algae-to-energy facility (also known as the Integrated Algal BioRefinery or IABR), for which construction began in June 2011, is now operating in Luna Country, near Columbus, New