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A researcher in Susan Golden's lab at UC San Diego examines streaks of algae.

Spawning from its fertile fodder of being home to the biotech epicenter of the U.S., San Diego is quickly laying the groundwork for becoming the nation’s “ground zero” for algae biofuel research and development. Today, the green world smiled as politicians, business leader and scientists established the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology, or “SD-CAB”, at UC San Diego.   The primary goal of SD-CAB is to create a national facility capable of developing and implementing innovative research solutions for the commercialization of fuel production from algae.

Much like a Presidential candidate on a national train tour of the country to round-up support, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders has recently been on a dizzying local green event “tour”, attending one green ribbon-cutting ceremony after another.   Mayor Sanders’ San Diego Green Train Tour stopped today at the SD-CAB opening during which time the Mayor did not mince words when he announced that San Diego is aiming to become a major center for renewable energy development.

“San Diego has a unique combination of life science research institutions, biotechnology companies and venture capital support to lead the nation in the development of this environmentally friendly source of transportation fuel,” said Mayor Sanders. “As the algal biofuel industry develops, we are confident that San Diego will become a major center for renewable energy development.”

Mayor Sanders was certainly not alone at this green soiree.  UC San Diego Chancellor  Marye Anne Fox, local scientists from The Scripps Research Institute and other local research institutions and industry leaders all basked together during the opening ceremony in the “green” sunshine emitted from the growing undercurrent of excitement felt in San Diego about the future prospects of this city.

Cultures of algae growing in Susan Golden's lab at UC San Diego.

“By sharing and facilitating the interactions of these multiple researchers through this center, we hope to make sustainable algae-based fuel production and carbon dioxide abatement a reality within the next five to ten years,” said Chancellor Fox. “This consortium will strengthen our ability to obtain grants and attract resources to the area. Algal biofuels will allow us to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and other economies, and will provide opportunities for a new economy and workforce.”

One of the main goals of SD-CAB:  to develop advanced transportation fuels from algae which would help release the unnerving stranglehold fossil-fuel producing countries have on the world’s environmental, equitable and economic conditions.  But really, do we even need that as an excuse?  Algae development seems so damn “hip”, even though commercial production and profitability are not currently viable.

Another goal of SD-CAB and algae research and development in San Diego: more green jobs and economic activity in San Diego.  SD-CAB is not the first group to arrive at the scene of algae research in San Diego.  In fact, investments and research in algae research in San Diego is already showing impact on the region’s economy. Research on algal biofuels now employs 272 scientists and other workers in San Diego and provides nearly $16.5 million in payroll and $33 million in economic activity for the region, according to an economic assessment completed last week by the San Diego Association of Governments, or SANDAG, Service Bureau.  And those figures are only going to grow higher.

Spending on algal biofuels, combined with the additional jobs and spending in related service industries this spending generates, is currently responsible for 513 jobs, $25.4 million in wages and $63.5 million in economic output in the San Diego region, according to the SANDAG study.

“The algal biofuels industry is an important addition to the existing biofuels and overall biotechnology landscape in the San Diego life science cluster, one of the most vibrant in the world,” said Joseph Panetta, President and CEO of BIOCOM, a San Diego-based association of more than 575 life science companies and institutions. “This critical new component to the high wage, environmentally friendly life science industry will help increase the stability and diversity of jobs and sectors within our regional economy.”

Economists say that as this industry matures and more capital is invested in algal biofuels research, jobs and economic activity are expected to be produced in many sectors of the region’s economy. According to the SANDAG analysis, every $100 million of venture capital funding applied toward private sector research spending on algal biofuels would be expected to generate $15 million in economic activity and nearly $7.75 million in payroll for 100 employees in the San Diego region.

Last year, venture capitalists invested $175.9 million in the United States to develop biofuel from microalgae, according to Biofuels Digest. The industry publication said $100-million of that amount went to Sapphire Energy, a San Diego biotech company that is working to convert algae to an environmentally friendly biofuel for use in automobiles and airliners.

In the Imperial Valley, where SD-CAB scientists will grow large quantities of algae and which has one of the highest rates of unemployment in the nation, the algal biofuels effort is expected to generate additional jobs and economic activity.

Algae ponds at the research facility in the Imperial Valley near Niland.

There will certainly be more to come on algae research and Mayor Sanders’ green ceremony “train tour” in San Diego (”trolley tour” is probably more appropriate), and buildgreenworld will be right there to report on it…