Posted on 10/31/2011 10:10:18 AM PDT by StolarStorm
Trying to make a biofuel startup work is tough. On one hand, you're fighting for a share of one of the biggest markets on the planet—last year the global oil and gas market was an astounding $2.6 trillion. But fuels are a commodity—customers really don't care whether they get their gasoline from Exxon or Shell or BP, because the product is essentially the same. That means the margin on fuel is extremely low, which then means you have to produce in large-scale to make any meaningful profit. But that in turn means a lot of capital spending—just building a pilot plant to produce biofuels can easily cost more than $100 million. At the same time, experimental second-generation biofuels—made from cellulose or algae—are still more expensive to produce than conventional oil, which puts them at a disadvantage as they battle for a little market share against the biggest companies in the world.
(Excerpt) Read more at ecocentric.blogs.time.com ...
A “green” company that might actually succeed. If not in biofuels, in skincare and food additives.
LOL. Yeah, but I’d rather eat algae, than PEOPLE. it is kind of cool that they can grow this stuff in vats, on non arable land. Might be useful for famine stricken regions to get off of food aid.
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