May 27 2008

"Ladies and Gentlemen..."

Posted by: Katie Romans

Trite, I know, but who can resist the excitement from Sunday's Indy 500? Not only did Danica's strut down pit row make it into one of the all-time greatest female moments in sports, perhaps lesser known though no less exciting is the role of ethanol in this year's Indy.

As reported by DomesticFuel, ethanol was the official fuel sponsor of the 92nd Indianapolis 500 for the second year. Who knew? Admittedly, a sport featuring high-performance vehicles screaming around a racetrack over and over, burning through tires and occasionally bursting into flames does beg the question: Is there something we can do to make the Indy more earth-friendly? Even so, race cars and renewables seem like strange bedfellows.

At the forefront of bringing ethanol to the Brickyard -- and to the masses -- is VeraSun CEO Don Endres, interviewed by DomesticFuel onsite at the race. Among the challenges and controversies faced by ethanol, according to Endres, is misinformation. He lauds Indy sponsors' understanding that ethanol is the only alternative to fossil fuels available today, making up about 6 percent of the total fuel stream.

Addressing the viability of ethanol long-term, Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures said at the recent The Future In Review conference that he is looking toward technologies like cellulosic ethanol rather than food-based ethanol, according to CNET. The key differentiators between cellulosic and food-based ethanol to Khosla seem to be two-fold: cellulosic ethanol's ability to scale to utility-grade levels, and its ability to compete with the cost of fossil fuels without subsidies.

Predictions for next year's Indianapolis 500: Clean fuel solutions such as cellulosic ethanol pick up where fossil fuels left off. Danica finishes what she started.

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