Energy Bioscience Institute: “Axis of hope” or “Axis of evil” between academics and oil industry?

Supporters of the Energy Bioscience Institute project on biofuel feedstocks are describing the research consortium formed by  BP, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, UC Berkeley, and the U of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as “our moonshot” and “our Manhattan project” according to a report in the Berkeley Daily.

The $500 million research project is aimed at producing sufficient high-yield feedstocks suitable for cultivation marginal lands that will make the US energy independent. The group said that it was clear that the tropical areas of the world were highly suitable to biofuel feedstock cultivation and that companies like BP could be expected to spread the new technologies and feedstocks to regions such as Africa.

The chief scientist for BP, Steve Koonin, is on leave from his job as provost of the California Institute of Technology, highlighting a trend of oil companies, which compete with biofuel producers, hire high-profile academics or provide their institutions with research funding.

A noted critic of biofuels at the University of California, Dr Ted Patzek, has received numerous research grants from oil companies and was employed by Royal Dutch Shell. Dr. Patzek was quoted in the Berkeley Daily report referring to slave labor camps operated by the Brazilian sugarcane ethanol industry.

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