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Vinod Khosla TKOs American Petroleum Institute in “Food Fight” at Wall Street Journal ECO:nomics conference;

March 17, 2008

In New York, Vinod Khosla and Big Oil started a “food fight” at the Wall Street Journal’s ECO:nomics conference, where Khosla accused the American Petroleum Institute for linking food price increases to ethanol production, saying “The API started issuing press releases about food. Suddenly they got interested in the welfare of poor Africans.”

“We have never said anything about ethanol being responsible for food prices,” said American Petroleum Institute President Red Cavaney. “It was Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in recent Congressional testimony who linked a 4.5% increase in food prices to rising worldwide demand and the amount of corn going to ethanol.”

Khosla suggested government rules mandating that service stations dispensing more than $5 million worth of fuel a year should have E85 pumps.

Recently, “Vinod you are still totally clueless” and “there will be pie in the sky by-and-by” were among comments hurled at Khosla in response to a three-part series of articles posted at Grist.

The second series focused on Biomass, including regulatory standards , “better agronomy for energy crops” , and “cellulosic ethanol yields“.

Among dozens of responses, writers accused Khosla turning “self delusion” on carbon cycles into a “mass delusion”, adding comments such as “cellulosic ethanol is such BS and that’s not just for the fertilizer.”

Among other proposals, Khosla endorsed a CLAW standard for sustainable production of biomass:

C — COST below gasoline

L — low to no additional LAND use; benefits for using degraded land to restore biodiversity and organic material

A — AIR quality improvements, i.e. low carbon emissions

W — limited WATER use,

Khosla was but was pilloried by critics of CLAW for ignoring soil degradation from fertilizers and the practice of monoculture. Other writers questioned where all the trucks would come from, to transport miscanthus or switchgrass from field to refinery.

Last December, the Biofuels Digest Editorial Board voted Khosla a bronze Biofuels Digest Medal for Highest Achievement in Biofuels in 2007, along with George W. Bush, Elliott Mannis (CEO, D1 Oils), Bob Dineen (President, Renewable Fuels Association), Jeff Broin (CEO, Poet), Al Gore, Dr. Chris Somerville (scientist, University of California) and Ban Ki-moon (Secretary-General, United Nations). Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the President of Brazil, received the silver, and Don Endres, CEO of VeraSun Energy, received the Gold medal.

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    Written by Jim Lane · Filed Under Policy 

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