When will cellulosic ethanol, or using plants to make fuel, be economically viable?
It’s going to take breakthroughs in both the development of the enzymes that convert the cellulosic material to ethanol [and] how to deal with that in a large-scale way. Because it’s one thing to produce a few thousand gallons, but when the country’s consuming tens of thousands of gallons a minute, that doesn’t get you anywhere. … There are huge infrastructure requirements to replace what’s here today, and that will take decades. … We have an obligation today to keep the economy running and to keep people supplied with energy, and what do you want to do between now and the time those breakthroughs are available? You don’t want to invest in a breakthrough or alternative technology until you feel more confident? The point that maybe I haven’t made clear enough yet: The alternatives available today, most of them are old technology. And, yes, people will continue to work on those, and they’ll refine them. And if you’ve got $70 oil, some of those probably will make sense. We happen to b
