Yesterday was an exciting day for Biodiesel University. We procured a 2008 Ford F-450 pickup truck (it’s huge), and tanked it up with 100% biodiesel made from algae. This was very special stuff made from microalgae in the absence of light (that’s non-photosynthetic for you technical folks). So special, in fact, that our truck was the first and only truck in the world running on it.



The day was even more special because we drove Jim Woolsey and Jonathan Wolfson to the 2008 Worldwide Energy Conference in the truck to demonstrate the fuel for Department of Defense energy folks. Jim is the former Director of the CIA and former Under Secretary of the Navy, and an icon in the renewable energy and national security arenas. (I let Jim drive the last two blocks). Jonathan is the CEO of Solazyme, the company that has perfected this type of algal biodiesel.



Algal biodiesel holds tremendous promise for reducing greenhouse gases and improving national security by reducing our use of foreign oil, without consuming large tracts of land or displacing food crops.



The McNeal–Lehrer News Hour filmed the truck demonstration for airing sometime soon. Coverage of the event from Forbes is here; a short video with Solazyme CEO Jonathan Wolfson discussing their technology and the importance of the Biodiesel University mission, filmed by Ken Burns' cinematographer Allen Moore, is here.