VIASPACE Discusses Giant King Grass at Biofuels Conference in Jakarta, Indonesia
PR Newswire
Posted: 2009-07-07 08:30:00
IRVINE, Calif., July 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- VIASPACE, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: VSPC), a clean energy company providing products and technology for renewable and alternative energy, announced that Chief Executive Dr. Carl Kukkonen made an invited presentation entitled, "Giant King Grass: An Energy Crop for Cellulosic Biofuels and Electric Power Plants" at the Biofuels and Jatropha Markets Asia conference in Jakarta, Indonesia, June 29-July 1, 2009. The presentation is available on the home page of the VIASPACE website www.VIASPACE.com.
Attendees and speakers at the fourth annual conference featured business executives and government officials from Asia, Europe, Australia, Africa, the Middle East, India and the United States.
According to government officials speaking at the conference, Indonesia has an ideal climate for growing renewable non-food feedstock for biofuels. To promote growth of renewable low-carbon energy sources such as Giant King Grass, Indonesia has installed an aggressive government program supporting alternative energy, including a goal to fulfill 10% of its energy consumption using biofuels.
Based on the country's energy consumption trend, reaching that goal will require the production of 46 million tons of biofuels by 2020. While palm oil, a food source, and jatropha are suitable for biodiesel production, Giant King Grass is a non-food source that is suitable for both biodiesel and grassoline for gasoline powered engines.
VIASPACE is cultivating and marketing fast-growing Giant King Grass as a non-food feedstock for producing cellulosic low-carbon biofuels, also known as grassoline, and as a biomass replacement for coal as the heat source for electricity generating power plants.
Dr. Kukkonen remarked: "High yield, dedicated energy crops such as Giant King Grass are in increasing demand for producing biofuels that can replace oil as a major energy source. Diesel engines can benefit from bio-diesel, but most cars and trucks still run on gasoline. Since Giant King Grass can be used for both grassoline and diesel fuel, we see promising potential in the Indonesian biofuels market. In addition, Giant King Grass can be used as biomass to replace coal as the heat source for power plants that generate electricity. Considering the multiple growing markets for Giant King Grass as a renewable source of non-petroleum energy and government incentives being provided, I believe we have an attractive business opportunity in providing the renewable feedstocks for decades to come."
Dr. Kukkonen was also a panelist for the session on "The Potential of Cellulosic Ethanol." The panel was organized by Nicholas Ashby of Celadon Capital in Malaysia. Other panelists were from Novozymes, US and China; and Green Energy Solutions, Indonesia. |
