When Mascoma Corp. announced $61 million in new venture funding last week, the biofuel company specifically touted
the fact that its pursuit of cellulosic ethanol is aimed at non-food
crops, with a nod to the growing backlash against biofuels as a factor
in rising food costs.
Never mind the fact that one of Mascoma's chief
backers is Khosla Ventures, which is also a big backer of biofuel
companies whose models rely on the use of corn and soybeans as
feedstock -- it was just too easy to take the cheap shot. But
Vinod Khosla, in an early volley in what will soon become a backlash to
the backlash, argued in an interview
published in Sunday's San Francisco Chronicle that the notion of
biofuels driving food prices up is way overblown, adding that "there are massive PR campaigns trying to ascribe most of the blame to biofuels."
First of all, corn ethanol
is nicknamed "Monsanto Moonshine" because it is mostly produced from
corn grown using genetically modified seed produced by Monsanto Corp.,
and this corn historically has been used almost exclusively for animal
feed and processed foods. Sure it is part of the whole chain that
determines the price of food humans eat, in the sense that it
eventually becomes meat or corn syrup-based soda pop etc., but it is
hardly taking ears of corn off the table of consumers.
It is much more relevant to point out, as Khosla does, that the dominant factor in rising food prices is the cost of oil.
Supporters of corn-based
ethanol companies have to be diplomatic, but the most important
long-term fact about growth in the industry is that it is feeding
biofuels into the market immediately, using an established market and
distribution system, and thereby supporting what will eventually be a
biofuel industry with multiple feedstocks and outputs. Corn-based
ethanol may or may not be sustainable in the long run. But the fact
that it is able to serve a market end-to-end immediately is a huge
opening for a biofuels market
that ultimately will deliver products ranging from biodiesel to
potentially extremely high-quality butanol or other molecules that
could be used in aircraft fuel or other specialized applications and
that take advantage of a variety of feedstocks ranging from switchgrass
to algae to various waste products.
But
with Khosla boldly projecting $35 a barrel oil by 2030, it's easy to
see why there are constituencies that have a stake in heightening the
current backlash, and attempts to sow public outcry against
corn-ethanol or biodiesel from soybeans could be nothing more than a
transparent attempt to kill the infant biofuel industry in the cradle. -- Clifford Carlsen
See May 11 story from theSan Francisco Chronicle
See May 6 story from TechConfidential
See May 6 press release from Mascoma Corp
See January 16 story from TechConfidential
Continue reading below
