World’s biggest Oil company Exxon Mobil has opened a Greenhouse facility to grow and test algae which will be used for producing biofuels.Algae based Biofuels is a green investment opportunity is still a decade away,as the technology is far from mature.However major Oil Refiners like Valero are already positioning themselves in this space.All the Oil Majors like Chevron,Shell,Exxon have made investments in  biofuels in order to hedge themselves for the future.However I don’t think current crop based biofuels are the answer to climate change problems because of their negative impacts on food security and deforestation.

Oil Majors invest a Minuscule Amount in Clean Energy and Green Fuels

The Big Oil companies have recently come under fire after the BP Oil Rig Disaster for doing too little in the case of Global Warming and Climate Change.Exxon though committing $600 million over the next 5-6 years on algae based biofuels with $300 million to be spent in its JV with startup Synthetic Genomics.Note the $120 million investment per year forms a minuscule 0.4% of its annual $32 billion in revenues.These companies need to be forced to spend more on clean energy and green fuels.One easy way to do that would be to eliminate the $550 Billion in annual subsidies given to fossil fuels globally.The Oil Industry has learned nothing from the Deephorizon Disaster as it continues in its merry polluting destroying ways opposing green laws and promoting fossil fuels.

Exxon says growing its algae biofuels program – Reuters

Exxon Mobil Corp said on Wednesday it opened a greenhouse facility to grow and test algae, the next step for its nascent biofuels program.Exxon said last year it would invest $600 million over the next five to six years attempting to develop biofuel from algae. If it met research goals, Exxon said it would spend more than originally budgeted in the next decade, $300 million of which would be allocated to its partner Synthetic Genomics Inc.

The project would cost billions to fully develop, Exxon said.Researchers from Exxon and Synthetic Genomics will use the new facility to test whether large-scale quantities of affordable fuel can be produced from algae.”It’s one step along a pretty long path, but it’s an important step,” Emil Jacobs, vice president of research and development at Exxon Mobil, said at a teleconference held at Synthetic Genomics headquarters in La Jolla, California.