Comments on: Big Oil on biofuels prowl? http://www.biofuelsdigest.com/blog2/2009/07/03/big-oil-on-biofuels-prowl/ The world's most widely-read biofuels daily Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:30:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Joelle Brink http://www.biofuelsdigest.com/blog2/2009/07/03/big-oil-on-biofuels-prowl/comment-page-1/#comment-2953 Joelle Brink Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:42:24 +0000 http://biofuelsdigest.com/blog2/2009/07/03/big-oil-on-biofuels-prowl/#comment-2953 I don't see the Big Oil model surviving in biofuels. While oil companies know how to manage risk, it's because they have a century of experience have developed exploration and analysis tools to minimize failure. On the other hand, farming has long been the world's riskiest livelihood and the one most subject to the weather. Despite advances in meteorology and university extension programs, farms still fail, especially in this increasingly unpredictable age of global warming. BP recently invested in Jatropha farming, only to find that their industrial scale model was not working. The only crop I can see working on the scale of Big Oil is algae, simple because more variables can be controlled with this crop than with any other. I don’t see the Big Oil model surviving in biofuels. While oil companies know how to manage risk, it’s because they have a century of experience have developed exploration and analysis tools to minimize failure.

On the other hand, farming has long been the world’s riskiest livelihood and the one most subject to the weather. Despite advances in meteorology and university extension programs, farms still fail, especially in this increasingly unpredictable age of global warming.

BP recently invested in Jatropha farming, only to find that their industrial scale model was not working. The only crop I can see working on the scale of Big Oil is algae, simple because more variables can be controlled with this crop than with any other.

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