Bilbray Sees Green on Algae Fuel

Bilbray's Efforts Fund Future of San Diego-Developed Alternative Energy

Washington D.C.--Congressman Bilbray celebrated a legislative victory as the United States House of Representatives voted to help fund the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology in developing gasoline, diesel and jet fuel from algae. In a 308-114 vote, the House passed the Energy and Water Development and Appropriations Act which included $750,000 for the San Diego based project run by a consortium of UC San Diego, San Diego State University and the Scripps Research Institute.

"Algae fuel is the future of fuel and has its roots in San Diego," said Congressman Bilbray. "This is a literally green renewable fuel providing alternative energy that can be used in the existing fuel infrastructure, unlike ethanol. It is clean, doesn't take away from feedstocks, is developed with an incredibly low carbon footprint and simply uses CO2 and sunlight to grow. If we really want to get away from foreign oil by building out our own resources, this is the way to go."

The SD-CAB consortium was created to collaborate in a broad-scale research effort to develop advanced transportation fuels from algae. The funding will support SD-CAB’s primary goal of creating a national facility capable of developing and implementing innovative research solutions for the commercialization of fuel production from algae.

The Energy and Water Development and Appropriations bill is expected to pass the Senate in the coming days and then be sent to the President to be signed into law.

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