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Vinod Khosla Talks Ethanol

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the slurred-speech-red-eyes dept.

IamTheRealMike writes "Vinod Khosla, venture capitalist and co-founder of Sun, has a new obsession these days. Ethanol is the fuel touted by many as an alternative to dwindling oil stocks, but is it all it's cracked up to be? Whilst Khosla is an avid supporter of ethanol as an alternative fuel (video link) his optimistic views have been rigourously challenged by Robert Rapier, an oil industry insider who is also engaged in a quest to discover alternatives. Recently the two debated via phone the merits of an ethanol economy, and Mr Rapier has now written up a report of the debate. What will be powering our cars 10 years from now?"

2 of 430 comments (clear)

  1. Ethanol is NOT the silver bullet! by gasmonso · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Ethanol does not give you better gas mileage... thus you have to burn more. Also, the price is not going to be cheaper with out federal subsidies to artificially lower it. And lastly, most ethanol is produced by corn in an extremely wasteful process that requires an enormous amount of energy which cuts in on its overall efficiency.

    http://religiousfreaks.com/
  2. Corn ethanol does not reduce CO2 emissions. by matrix+mechanic · · Score: 1, Redundant

    What's the point of replacing gasoline with ethanol when you have to use almost the same amount of fossil fuel energy, in the form of natural gas and coal, to make the stuff? Producing ethanol from corn produces little net energy, and the whole process produces nearly the same amount of CO2 as just burning straight gasoline.

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