Algae-Based Biofuel Could Power Gas Guzzlers of the U.S. Military
by Mike Stark (AP, MSNBC) In December, DARPA awarded a $20 million contract to General Atomics and a $15 million contract to Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), two San Diego-based research companies. The contracts ask the companies to find a biofuel surrogate for JP-8 — the petroleum-based fuel for military jets, planes and other vehicles. Lab tests and smaller-scale experiments over several decades have shown that algae oil can be turned into fuel. But the military, which spent more than $12 billion on fuel in 2007, wants something large-scale and cheap. … The workload is being spread among subcontractors from universities and private research firms across the country. READ MORE


