VIASPACE to Produce Giant King Grass in Pellet Form to Replace Coal for Power Plants in U.S. & Europe

VIASPACE to Produce Giant King Grass in Pellet Form to Replace Coal for Power
Plants in U.S. & Europe
Supports U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Proposal, European Efforts to
Control Carbon Dioxide and Other Emissions Blamed for Global Warming

IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- VIASPACE Inc. (OTC Bulletin
Board: VSPC), a clean energy company growing Giant King Grass as a renewable,
high yield biomass energy crop, today announced plans to produce pellets made
from Giant King Grass as an alternative to coal to reduce carbon dioxide
emissions from coal-fired power plants across the U.S. and Europe.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, pellets made from Giant King Grass
and other biomass can potentially replace up to 20% of the coal in an existing
coal-fired power plant. Giant King Grass and other plants absorb carbon
dioxide during their growth. When the grass is burned, it emits carbon
dioxide, but the next crop of grass 90 days later absorbs the carbon dioxide,
and the overall process can be nearly carbon neutral, and therefore reduces
the carbon dioxide emissions of the power plant significantly. Many existing
coal-fired power plants can be adapted at modest cost to replace part of the
coal with biomass pellets in a process called co-firing. In a single
2,000-megawatt coal-fired power plant, replacing 20% of the coal with Giant
King Grass pellets would require approximately 2.3 million tons of pellets per
year and yield revenue of approximately $2.3 million at today's prices for
biomass pellets.

As reported by the Associated Press on Sept. 30, 2009, the Environmental
Protection Agency (E.P.A.) announced a proposal to reduce emissions--primarily
carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels--from hundreds of electric power
plants and other large factories and refineries in the U.S. According to the
E.P.A., these large sources are responsible for 70% of the greenhouse gas
emissions that are released each year. "By using the power and authority of
the Clean Air Act, we can begin reducing emissions from the nation's largest
greenhouse-gas emitting facilities without placing an undue burden on the
businesses that make up the vast majority of our economy," E.P.A.
Administrator Lisa Jackson said.

VIASPACE Chief Executive Dr. Carl Kukkonen commented: "Co-firing with biomass
pellets is probably the simplest and least expensive way to reduce the carbon
emissions from coal-fired power plants, because it can be accomplished by
modifying existing coal plants, and not replacing them. Alternatives such as
carbon dioxide capture from the smokestack and storage underground are
considered much more expensive and not expected to occur for many years. As a
result, co-firing with biomass pellets is now being implemented in Europe.

"As discussed in prior announcements, independent analysis of Giant King Grass
has shown it to have excellent energy content and confirmed its suitability
for burning in electric power plants," Kukkonen continued. "With this in mind,
VIASPACE has produced a prototype of the pellets for evaluation.

"Worldwide, 41% of electricity is generated from coal, which produces the
greatest carbon dioxide emissions per unit of energy of any fossil fuel,"
Kukkonen added. "Replacing just 20% of coal worldwide would require
approximately two billion tons of Giant King Grass pellets per year, which
represents a market potential of more than $200 billion a year. With a
high-yield crop like Giant King Grass, to grow the amount of grass would
require only modest additional acreage equal to 1% of current world cropland.
Giant King Grass can be cultivated on marginal land where it would not compete
with food crops."

In addition to co-firing, 100% dedicated biomass power plants are being built
throughout the world, and coal-fired power plants are being converted to run
on much larger amounts of biomass. According to a Global Climate Law posting
on Sept. 9, 2009, at globalclimatelaw.com, company officials at Ohio Edison,
an electric utility serving customers in central and northeastern Ohio, say
that one of its coal-firing plants--to be retrofitted for up to 80% biomass to
be co-fired with a maximum of 20% coal--is expected to reduce yearly emissions
of carbon dioxide by 1.3 million tons to 400,000 tons, most of which should be
offset by the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by the biomass crops during
their growth. The cost of converting the facility to biomass was expected to
be materially lower than installing scrubbers or reconfiguring for natural
gas.

Updated pictures of Giant King Grass are available on VIASPACE's website at
www.VIASPACE.com

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 www.VIASPACE.com or contact Dr.
Jan Vandersande, Director of Communications, at 800-517-8050 or
IR@VIASPACE.com.

Safe Harbor Statement: Information in this news release and include
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;
the ability to acquire and develop specific products and technologies; changes
in consumer and business demand for the Company's products; competition from
larger companies; changes in demand for alternative and clean energy; risks
associated with international transactions; risks related to technological
change; and other factors over which VIASPACE has little or no control.

SOURCE VIASPACE Inc.

Dr. Jan Vandersande, Director of Communications of VIASPACE Inc.,
1-800-517-8050, IR@VIASPACE.com