VIASPACE Press Release

VIASPACE INC. TO INCREASE PRODUCTION OF RENEWABLE LOW-CARBON ENERGY SOURCE

04/06/2009

Role as Resource Supplier to Biofuels Market Part of Growth Strategy in Alternative Energy

PASADENA, CA-April 6, 2009-VIASPACE Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: VSPC), an alternative energy company providing products and technology for renewable and clean energy, today announced plans to expand production of its proprietary grass feedstock that is targeted for use in the production of low-carbon biofuels, including cellulosic ethanol, methanol and "green" gasoline. 

VIASPACE holds a worldwide license to grow and cultivate Giant King Grass, a perennial fast-growing plant that can be harvested four times a year. In October 2008 the Company planted its first crop of 1.2 million Giant King Grass seedlings which are now growing in Guangdong Province in China. These seedlings survived the unusually cold winter and are now 2 meter-tall plants. Giant King Grass is propagated by seedlings instead of seeds, and each seedling grows into a plant that can generate from five to 10 new seedlings. As a result, the original 1.2 million seedlings, now plants, will be propagated into six to 12 million new seedlings that will be planted on 100 acres. Later this year, there will be another propagation. VIASPACE is negotiating to lease more land, and expects to have 300 acres growing by September, with additional acreage and plantings under consideration in China and other countries.   

VIASPACE Chief Executive Carl Kukkonen stated that Giant King Grass is a cellulose-based product and a nonfood source for producing low-carbon biofuels. As a result, the Company's plans to supply the grass to the biofuels market are consistent with a growing effort to not only reduce carbon emissions but also avoid the use of food-related products, such as corn, for fuel.

Kukkonen commented: "We see this renewable energy segment of our business as an opportunity to participate in the expected growth of cellulosic biofuels as an environmentally friendly, non-petroleum source of energy. As an indicator of this growth potential, BP p.l.c. (formerly British Petroleum) recently announced plans to build a cellulosic ethanol plant in Florida and use grass is a feedstock, and in the March 23 issue of Time magazine, Toyota said that the carbon footprint for its plug-in hybrid can be reduced by fueling the engine with cellulosic ethanol."

Kukkonen added that the trend to cellulosic biofuels is also finding increasing political support. The new administration in Washington is calling for a national low-carbon fuel standard, and a recent landmark legislative proposal in California to reduce carbon emissions "would boost the use of biofuels" by "spurring investment in cellulosic low-carbon fuels made from switch grass and other non-food plants." (Los Angeles Times, March 27, 2009, page A12).

About VIASPACE Inc.

VIASPACE is an alternative energy company providing products and technology for renewable and clean energy that reduce or eliminate dependence on fossil and high-risk-pollutant energy sources. The Company provides raw material for cellulosic biofuels and develops and markets fuel cell cartridges, products and technology. VIASPACE subsidiary Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Corporation owns a portfolio of fuel cell patents licensed from Pasadena-based California Institute of Technology (Caltech), which manages NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where the direct methanol fuel cell was invented. For more information, please see http://www.viaspace.com/ or contact Dr. Jan Vandersande, Director of Communications, at 800-517-8050 or mailto:[email protected]

Safe Harbor Statement: Information in this press release includes forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Such factors include, without limitation, risks outlined in our periodic filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, as well as general economic and business conditions; changes in demand for the Company's products; competition from larger companies; changes in demand for alternative alternative energy; risks associated with international transactions; risks related to weather, crop damage and technological change; and other factors over which VIASPACE has little or no control.