Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Bill Gates bets $84M on ethanol

CNN Money

I guess it a sign of the times. Personally, I'd rather EAT than use the land around me for transportation fuel. I wonder which environmentalists they're talking about?

"It really differentiated us from the pack," Koehler said. Gates' investment firm, Cascade Investment, agreed last month to buy 5.25 million preferred shares in Pacific Ethanol, a producer of the corn-based fuel hailed by environmentalists as an answer to the earth's dwindling supply of petroleum.

...I suppose Koehler would say this:

"It's a common fact, we are running out of oil and there is only one commercially-viable liquid fuel alternative," Koehler said.

since he's the owner of the company. I say, ssshhure we can replace oil solely with ethanol at our current consumption rates...not! What about the petroleum inputs that go into the corn growing and then the processing? The equipment would have to run on ethanol, too, not anything petroleum based, right? What about the tires and the the material the equipment is made from? Can they make these items out of ethanol, too?

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