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Emeryville Now National Hub for Biofuel Development

Special to The Emeryville Connection
November 2007

Emeryville’s transition as a center of advanced scientific research took a big step forward with the October 22nd announcement by the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) that it is locating its operations in Emeryville. The story generated headlines nationwide.

The Joint BioEnergy Institute leased 65,000 square feet in EmeryStation East, Wareham Development’s 245,000-square-foot building at 5885 Hollis Street. The EmeryStation East Building was the site of this year’s Emeryville Art Exhibition. [See related front page story].

JBEI is a $125 million U.S. Department of Energy research center exploring the conversion of plant energy into fuel. It is a partnership between the University of California campuses at Berkeley and Davis and the Lawrence Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore and Sandia national laboratories.

“This is incredibly exciting news,” said Jason Crouch, Owner/Broker of All Emeryville Properties and Chairman of the Board of the Emeryville Chamber of Commerce. “JBEI represents the best of business, academia and scientific research, and is the perfect consortium to help America reduce its dependence on foreign oil and develop economical and environmentally-friendly fuel alternatives.”

“From a community standpoint,” Crouch continued, “JBEI could not have selected a better city than Emeryville as its home. We welcome them wholeheartedly. We’re perfectly positioned near U.C. Berkeley, San Francisco, the Oakland Airport and four major freeways. We have our own Amtrak station and free bus service to BART. On behalf of the Chamber of Commerce and the entire Emeryville community we look forward to doing whatever we can to help JBEI in its exciting work.”

U.C.-Berkeley chemical engineering professor Jay Keasling is also chief executive of JBEI.

The goal of JBEI is to use rapidly advancing scientific techniques, such as systems and synthetic biology, to accelerate development of the nation’s biofuels industry. JBEI’s goals focus on breaking the barriers to efficient conversion of lignocellulosic material into biofuels. For additional information, visit www.jbei.lbl.gov.