Press Release:
Industry organization expands leadership group to help accelerate growth of algae industry
The Algal Biomass Organization (ABO) today announced the appointment of four new board members, and the re-election of an existing board member. The additional board members will help the organization increase its efforts to help develop the industry as increasingly algal biomass is being considered as a vital resource for clean and renewable energy.
The board members represent a wide range of industries, organizations and companies, in keeping with the ABO’s commitment to developing a membership from across the value chain. The board makeup now includes representatives from academia, professional services, technology and project development and end-users. Newly elected directors include:
- Dr. Ira Levine, associate professor at the University of Southern Maine and vice president of Biological Services, Inc.
- Dr. Margaret McCormick, general manager, Bio-based Materials Program at Targeted Growth, Inc.
- John Pierce, member at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and one of the leaders if of its Renewable Energy and CleanTech Practice, as well as the catalyst for the formation of the ABO
- Elizabeth Willett, business development and commercial manager, Mars Symbioscience, a division of Mars, Inc., and
- Dr. Philip Pienkos, a founding board member of ABO and supervisor of the Applied Biology Group at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, who was re-elected to a second term.
Founded one year ago, the Algal Biomass Organization (ABO) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote and advocate for the development of commercially-viable transportation and power generation fuels as well as other non-energy applications for algal biomass. The volunteer-led organization has a number of operating sub-committees aimed at helping member companies and advancing the industry, including Technical Standards, Government Relations and Peer Review. The ABO also produces the annual Algae Biomass Summit, which last year drew more than 700 attendees from more than 20 countries.
Membership in ABO has expanded significantly in the past year, with dozens of individuals, companies, organizations, and research institutions joining to support the industry. Members of the organization, which recently held its first annual meeting in Washington, D.C., met with several members of Congress and their staffers to help educate them on the potential of algae as a key renewable and sustainable fuel and energy source. This outreach is increasingly important given the $786.5 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act recently pledged to accelerate advanced biofuels research and sustainable energy development, including algae.
There were three key requests they made to elected officials. First, that the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) should be amended to either include algae, or to be technology neutral; second, that algae-derived fuels should receive tax parity with incentives for biodiesel and cellulosic ethanol; third, that Congress should make funding opportunities currently available to cellulosic biofuel producers similarly accessible to producers of algae-based products and processes.
The ABO is currently accepting papers and presentation abstracts for the 2009 Algae Biomass Summit via the website http://www.algalbiomass.org/events/2009ABS through July 5, 2009. Final decisions will be made and an agenda will be posted on the website shortly after.
Information about the ABO and the Algae Biomass Summit is available via the organization’s website at www.algalbiomass.org.
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