Interest in algae's oil prospects is growing

To many, algae is little more than pond scum, a nuisance to swimmers and a frustration to boaters.

But to a growing community of scientists and investors in Southern California, there is oil locked in all that slimy stuff, and several dozen companies are racing to try to figure how best to unleash it and produce an affordable biofuel.
The companies and several research labs have set up shop in the San Diego area, many of them in an area nicknamed Biotech Beach. There, about 200 biotech companies of all kinds are clustered near La Jolla on the mesa above Torrey Pines State Beach.

Together, the firms and organizations conducting algae research employ nearly 300 people with more than $16 million in payroll and bring $33 million annually into the local economy, according to the San Diego Assn. of Governments, and local officials see the potential for much more.

“It’s a critical industry, and it’s kind of exploded,” San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders said. “There’s a long pattern of huge companies being spawned out of [UC San Diego] and our other research centers, and it’s going to create a tremendous number of jobs.”

Los Angeles Times