BP Pledges $500 Million for energy biosciences institute at a university

BP has announced plans to spend $500 million over the next ten years to establish the BP Energy Biosciences Institute, a dedicated biosciences energy research laboratory attached to a yet unnamed major academic centre in the US or UK. BP hopes to launch early research programmes by the end of 2007. The new institute would focus initially on three key areas of energy bioscience:developing new biofuel components and improving the efficiency and flexibility of those currently blended with transport fuels; devising new technologies to enhance and accelerate the conversion of organic matter to biofuel molecules,with the aim of increasing the proportion of a crop which can be used to produce feedstock; and using modern plant science to develop species that produce a higher yield of energy molecules and can be grown on land not suitable for food production.

For further information, visit web site: www.bp.com/genericarticle.do?categoryId=2012968&contentId=7018719