University Wins $500-Million Biofuel Grant

An oil company has awarded half a billion dollars over 10 years for bio-energy research to a consortium led by the University of California at Berkeley, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

BP, a British petroleum company, announced last June it was seeking to start a $500-million alternative-fuels center at a major university, which led to an international competition among colleges.

Berkeley—which will run the Energy Biosciences Institute with the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign—triumphed in part, the article reports, because of California’s tradition of clean-air efforts, such as reducing automobile emissions. For its part, the University of Illinois has invested heavily in ethanol research.

The state of California will have to chip in $40-million, to be paid in bonds, to construct the institute, which will focus on solar power, bioengineering, and transportation efficiency.