PASADENA, Calif., Dec. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --- VIASPACE Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: VSPC - News) today announced the Company is cultivating a new fast-growing hybrid grass to be used for production of cellulosic ethanol, methanol, biocrude and green gasoline. VIASPACE is taking a leadership position in the development of feedstock for sustainable biofuels, targeting the growing $25 billion global biofuels market. The Company is working to develop supply contracts with companies in China and also expand into other worldwide markets. VIASPACE expects to generate $20 million in revenue in the next two years selling this high-yield grass for alternative fuels as well as livestock feed.

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Dr. Carl Kukkonen, CEO of VIASPACE, commented: "Nations worldwide are utilizing biofuels to reduce greenhouse emissions, decrease reliance on fossil fuels and meet rising fuel requirements. For biofuels to be truly effective they must be sustainable, net energy efficient, carbon neutral and generated from sources that don't impact the food supply. Producing biofuels from cellulose-rich biomass like grasses and plant stalks rather than corn or other food grains solves the 'food versus fuel' dilemma affecting corn-based ethanol. VIASPACE's fast-growing perennial grass meets all criteria for a sustainable energy crop and we expect it to play a pivotal role in the bright future for all clean transportation fuels."

The U.S. Department of Energy expects global production of biofuels to more than double by 2030, projecting output will increase from 1.3 million barrels per day in 2010 to 2.7 million. Within the last year the DOE has announced that it will invest $1 billion in biofuels research and development; $114 million in small-scale cellulosic refineries, $405 million in bioenergy centers, and $385 million in commercial-scale cellulosic refineries. Clean Edge reports in Clean-Energy Trends 2008 that global production and wholesale pricing of biofuels reached $25.4 billion in 2007 and are projected to reach $81.1 billion by 2017.

VIASPACE recently acquired Inter-Pacific Arts Corp., a company with ongoing profitable operations generating unaudited 2007 revenues of approximately $5 million, net income of $1.2 million, and $3 million in cash and equivalents. Inter-Pacific has a worldwide license to grow and sell the ultra-fast-growing hybrid grass in addition to its already profitable consumer products business. The VIASPACE subsidiary has initiated commercial farming of the high-yield grass in China where markets for both animal feed and ethanol are growing rapidly. The China Giant King Grass is a natural, non-genetically modified hybrid that can grow up to twelve feet high in sixty days and can produce four crops per year in tropical and subtropical climates. The perennial grass yields seven times the mass output per acre compared to an annual crop such as corn. It is ideal for use as a low-cost, high yield, non-food based biomass for ethanol and other biofuels. China produced 750,000 tons of ethanol last year and is scheduled to boost output to 5,000,000 tons by 2010, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. China's Ministry of Finance reports that in order to protect grain security it will not approve new biofuels projects using food grains. Instead the central government will offer financial support for development of biofuel from agricultural waste and non-grain farm produce.

About VIASPACE (OTCBB: VSPC - News) -- Founded in 1998 with the objective of transforming proven space and defense technologies from NASA and the Department of Defense into hardware and software solutions that solve today's complex problems, VIASPACE benefits from important patent and software licenses from Caltech, which manages NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. VIASPACE is committed to alternative energy and green technologies. For more information, please see www.VIASPACE.com or contact Dr. Jan Vandersande, Director of Communications, at 800-517-8050 or [email protected].

Press contact: Dr. Carl Kukkonen 626-768-3360

A picture of the grass is available on the VIASPACE website or by e-mailing [email protected]

This news release includes forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements relate to future events or our 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 the risks outlined in our periodic filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-KSB, for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007, as well as general economic and business conditions, the ability to acquire and develop specific projects and technologies, the ability to fund operations, changes in consumer and business consumption habits, competition with larger companies, demand for biofuels and animal feed particularly in China, risks associated with international transactions, crop development, growing, and harvesting related risks, and other factors over which VIASPACE has little or no control.