Biofuels part of $500 million research project funded by BP

Major oil company BP announced Thursday that it will give $500 million over the next 10 years to a partnership led by the University of California at Berkeley to develop new biofuels. Two other institutions - the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and California's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory - will participate.

According to an announcement yesterday in California, the stated goals include: finding ways to make more fuel from plants; improve the extraction of oil from existing fields; and reduce carbon release into the atmosphere. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pledged $40 million in state funding toward the projects.

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