Earlier this year at the Detroit Auto Show, EcoMotors showed off a small diesel powerplant which used the boxer or pancake style of horizontally opposed cylinders. The small company believes that its engine design can provide the power of a much larger engine while retaining the fuel savings of a small one. As always, we make no recommendations on what companies, if any, to invest in. So far, the company has received its funding from Vinod Khosla, a venture capitalist from Silicon Valley. Now, though, EcoMotors has apparently outgrown their surroundings and the seven-person company is in need of more staff, larger offices and a manufacturing facility. For this reason, the company is now hoping to get some tax breaks from the city of Troy in Michigan.

According to recent reports, the small outfit has plans for its diesel engine to power a sedan by 2010 with a goal of reaching 100 miles per gallon. Interestingly, EcoMotors is headed by John Coletti who was once the director of Ford's Special Vehicles Team. Thanks for the tip, Rob!

[Source: Hometown Life]

Vinod Khosla has challenged conventional ideas on the cost of ethanol and then walked the walked by investing in America's first cellulosic ethanol plant. What does Vinod think about plug-in cars and battery technology? According to Greentech Media, during a keynote at a ThinkEquity conference, Vinod says "Forget plug-ins. ... They are nice toys. But they will not be material to climate change."

Vinod's real problem is with battery technology and not plug-ins specifically. "Are we more likely to get a [fivefold] reduction in cost in cellulosic ethanol than a [fivefold] reduction in cost of batteries?" Vinod asks in his keynote. At 5:37 into the video above (part of the Keynote), Vinod says, "I don't believe they [batteries] are going to be material to climate change solutions in the near term or the next two decades."

Vinod does say batteries are a good investment even though it won't have a material impact on climate change. What do you expect? A big investor in ethanol to sing the praises of batteries in a keynote at an investment conference? Flex-fuel plug-in hybrids are not impossible but these two technologies [battery and ethanol] are basically competing to be the green car solution of choice for government, industry and venture capital investment.

We want to know what you think. In 20 years, which technology will have a greater impact on cleaning up the planet: batteries or ethanol?

[Source: YouTube, Greentech Media via Grist, Treehugger]

I have got to tell you that the article linked to here is very long and takes a good while to get through. Then, after you have read the whole thing, you still need time to meditate on all of the points. But, after doing that, feel free to comment on some of the ideas that Vinod Khosla outlines and the points that he makes. I believe that some of what he has to say is true and has merit, but can't quite agree with everything. Here is a good point: "every coal-fired power plant is a ticking slow bomb. Knowing this, we need solutions that work - now." Another: "Finally, I am a big believer in a very diverse set of technology bets." But, is clean coal, nuclear energy and solar thermal power really the best answer for the long-term good of the world, as he appears to suggest? I think that what he is trying to say is that they make the most sense economically at this time, and that we need to focus on what the economy of the world is capable of... and he suggests that what works in Germany and America won't necessarily work in India and China. Makes sense, right? But, what are the chances that nuclear power or clean coal will be what India or China ends up with? Not real high, right? And, what works there is not necessarily what is going to work in America either. Do I have a better solution? Ummm... no, not just one. As he said, we need many. But, I can't see the collective world's governments all agreeing on one technology for the future, either. Oh, yeah, I'm not holding my breath for cold fusion, either.

Wind power where that's plentiful, solar where there is lots of sun, wave power where there is lots of water, biodiesel where there is good soil, the list goes on. Anybody else have any comments?

[Source: Huffington Post]

Range Fuels, Inc., known until just the other day as Kergy, Inc., will build a cellulosic ethanol plant in Georgia to turn wood waste into the biofuel. Range Fuels says its proprietary cellulosic ethanol technology can turn wood chips, agricultural wastes, grasses, cornstalks, hog manure, municipal garbage, sawdust or paper pulp (whew) into ethanol. Without using enzymes, the K2 system first turns the biomass into a synthetic gas and then into ethanol.

This new plant will be funded by Vinod Khosla's Khosla Ventures (Range Fuels itself is privately owned by Khosla Ventures) and can potentially create one million gallons of ethanol a year, along with and 70 new jobs. Khosla recently said at a Reuters Global Biofuels Summit that he thinks cellulosic fuel prices could sink to $1 per gallon within 10 years, and that would make them very attractive at the pump.

This cellulosic ethanol plant is a big step forward, since most ethanol plants in America use corn or soy as the biomass feedstock. Turning a waste product into fuel seems like a no-brainer. I'm not entirely sure if this waste is lumber industry by-product or things like fallen branches. The former seems much more likely, but the company's announcement reads, "Wood waste from the state's millions of acres of indigenous Georgia Pine will be the main source of biomass for the ethanol production." So, what does that mean exactly?

[Source: Range Fuels, Inc.]

It's no secret that Vinod Khosla likes ethanol. And he's more than willing to tell you about it. Or, in this case, David Brancaccio over at PBS' NOW. The subject of the show wasn't biofuels or ethanol per se, but "Corporate Compassion," so there's discussion about microlending along with the ethanol talk. You can listen to the show from links on this page.

Khosla has a semi-Rumsfeldian way of speaking, asking and then answering his own questions: "Are we going to trade our food for ethanol? Absolutely not. Are there issues? Sure, there are issues. But they are all easily solvable with very modest amounts of investment of capital," he says at one point during the show.

Khosla also says that better ethanol production methods will allow us to get the same mileage from ethanol as we get from gasoline, and that 40 to 60 million acres of land could replace all of America's gasoline needs as well as supply close to 200 billion gallons of ethanol a year. Everyone's got their own numbers (see stories in the links below).

Related:

• Khosla: Ethanol is just a stepping stone
• Study: 100 million acres of farmland needed to produce 25 percent of nation's energy needs
• Growing corn for ethanol will require 10 million more acres

[Source: PBS' NOW]

When I hear the name Vinod Khosla three things immediately come to mind - lots and lots of money, Sun Microsystems and ethanol. If you're not familiar with Mr. Khosla, the first thing you need to grasp is that he's one of Silicon Valley's most influential people. In 1982, he co-founded Sun Microsystems. In 1986, he became a partner at one of the Valley's largest venture capital firms. And in 2004, he went off on his own to start Khosla Ventures. So why do we keep talking about him on AutoblogGreen? Because he's one of ethanol's most outspoken and enthusiastic proponents. His company has invested millions upon millions in ethanol companies such as Altra, Mascoma and Cilion.

You'd think that after investing so much money in an industry, you'd be parading around endorsing it. Well, Khosla has certainly done his share of that, however, at the California Clean Tech Open event last Tuesday, he withdrew some of that enthusiasm and said that ethanol probably won't be the ultimate fuel of the future. "Contrary to what you might believe," he said, "I think it's extremely unlikely that in 20 years we will be using any ethanol in cars." Instead, Khosla now believes that ethanol - even cellulosic ethanol - is a stepping stone to other alternative fuels. He points out that BP and DuPont are currently working on biobutanol while other Khosla Ventures companies are researching fuels that are better than both ethanol and butanol.

I don't imagine the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) or any other ethanol organization is going to ask him to speak at their next pep rally.

Related:

• Mascoma getting closer to commercial production of cellulosic ethanol
• Vinod Khosla video on Google
• Khosla challenges oil companies with cheap ethanol offer
• Venture capital going to all things green

[Source: Red Herring]

Mascoma Corp., a company solely focused on converting cellulosic biomass to ethanol, announced last week that a new partnership with Dartmouth College will bring commercial production of cellulosic ethanol one step closer. The partnership gives Mascoma access to several of Dartmouth's patents, and is not too surprising, considering the history of Mascoma's co-founder. Dartmouth Engineering professor Lee Lynd (pictured), is an expert in microbial cellulose conversion and a cellulosic ethanol production pioneer. He also co-founded Mascoma and is the company's chief scientific officer. The college has taken an undisclosed equity position in the company. Flagship Ventures and Khosla Ventures have also sent some funding to Mascoma. Ethanol moneybags Vinod Khosla serves as Mascoma's Chairman of the Board.

The research at Mascoma/Dartmouth is focused on finding "advanced biocatalysts" that will "significantly reduce the cost of ethanol and expand the use of ethanol production from a wide range of cellulosic material," said Alla Kan, Director of the Technology Transfer Office at Dartmouth.

[Source: Mascoma]

Vinod Khosla, a socially conscious entrepreneur who funds clean energy ventures among others, is calling oil companies' bluffs on fuels not made from fossil fuels. Khosla (read more about him here and here) has offered to supply enough ethanol to the oil companies at a fixed price so they can sell it all across America at $1.99 a gallon and still make a tidy profit. All the company has to do it commit to buying Khosla's ethanol for five to seven years. So far, no one has taken him up on it.

Khosla, writing his first article in the Huffington Post, says his offer would make it possible for ethanol to be available to everyone in America, now, at a fairly reasonable price (at least, compared to current gasoline prices), but the oil companies have zero interest in actually provide ethanol to consumers because, well, they made $80 billion last year selling dinosaur juice. He is also promoting the Clean Alternative Energy Initiative, a measure on the upcoming California ballot that would require oil companies pay for the oil they take out of California, just like they have to pay in other states.

[Source: Huffington Post]