US and Israel to Collaborate on Advanced Biofuels Development

An Israeli delegation of elite biofuels researchers and innovators both from the academe and industry together with government program managers arrived in Washington (USA) to discuss with their American counterparts the opportunities for U.S.-Israel collaboration on research and innovation for production of advanced biofuels that can substitute for petroleum-based fuels.

Both countries share the goal of reducing dependence on fossil fuels. Israel launched an initiative in 2011 with an ambitious 10-year goal of reducing oil consumption by 60 percent by the year 2025. Israel has built a reputation in cutting-edge research and development particularly in the selection, bio-engineering and modification of fuel feedstock, growing novel feedstock on non-arable land and without using fresh water. This is also true with the more-efficient and cost effective production of fuels from feedstock using innovative chemical, physical and biological processes.

Sponsors of the meeting also stressed that finding alternatives to imported oil will be of benefit to the economic and security interests of the two nations especially at a time when high oil prices are dragging the economy and some oil-producing nations are using oil revenues to develop weapons that threaten their neighbors.