The New York Times On the Ethanol Bandwagon, Big Names and Big Risks
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"VINOD KHOSLA was a founder of Sun Microsystems and then, as a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm, he helped a host of technology companies get off the ground.

These days, Mr. Khosla, 51, is still investing in technology, but much of it has nothing to do with the world of network computing in which he made his name. He is particularly excited about new ways of producing ethanol — the plant-derived fuel that, he says, could rapidly displace gasoline. "I am convinced we can replace a majority of petroleum used for cars and light trucks with ethanol within 25 years," he said. He has already invested "tens of millions of dollars," he said, in private companies that are developing methods to produce ethanol using plant sources other than corn."

redux [02.28.06]
The Mercury News Ethanol in the spotlight

"Ethanol, a fuel made out of crops like corn and sugar, shows promise because it produces fewer greenhouse gases than gasoline, can be made in the United States and, with new technologies, is becoming much cheaper to produce, supporters say."

"So now, a wide array of people in Silicon Valley -- including entrepreneurs, venture capitalists such as Vinod Khosla, and scientists at companies like Palo Alto-based Genencor -- are jumping into ethanol. In part, they hope to reap profits from research at places like Stanford University and University of California-Berkeley, where scientists are working on ways to ferment ethanol more efficiently, starting with enzymes derived from a cotton-eating fungus. Ethanol, in short, appeals to Silicon Valley's hankering to apply technology to solve big problems."

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Private investors storm ethanol industry

"In the past year, federal energy regulations and the rising price of oil have spurred an investment boom in ethanol plants, bringing unprecedented levels of private equity into an industry once characterized by farmer-owned co-ops.

Of 42 new ethanol plants under construction nationwide, only six are farmer-owned, according to the Renewable Fuels Association trade group. That's a stark contrast to the ethanol boom of the 1990s, when farmer-owned co-ops built more than half of all new plants, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City."

redux [02.08.06]
The New York Times Corn Power Put to the Test
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"The endless fields of corn in the Midwest can be distilled into endless gallons of ethanol, a clean-burning, high-octane fuel that could end any worldwide oil shortage, reduce emissions that cause global warming, and free the United States from dependence on foreign energy.

There is only one catch: Turning corn into ethanol takes energy. For every gallon that an ethanol manufacturing plant produces, it uses the equivalent of almost two-fifths of a gallon of fuel (usually natural gas), and that does not count the fuel needed to make fertilizer for the corn, run the farm machinery or truck the ethanol to market."

""In this industry, you can't take a parochial view of your business," said William A. Lee, general manager of Chippewa Valley Ethanol, in Benson, Minn., and former chairman of the Renewable Fuels Association, an ethanol trade group. "We have to be headed to a more sustainable future." Engineers are trying a variety of methods. Here are several of the most promising."

redux [02.02.06]
NPR Professor Attacks Enthusiasm for Bio-Fuels

"A growing number of Americans are embracing ethanol and bio-diesel as possible alternatives to gasoline. But one Berkeley engineering professor is waging a campaign against what he considers a delusion about bio-fuels. Martin Kaste reports."