[continued from previous message] 
  
 think that a lot of that money is now chasing after some opportunities 
 it wouldn't be in a more sober climate." 
  
 Later stage institutional investors have also been caught up in the 
 hype. Lux reported that in the energy segment where IPO value rose from 
 $1.6bn in 2005 to $4.1bn in 2006. Most of those companies came public 
 either on London's Aim market or in Frankfurt, because there are less 
 stringent revenue milestones that the US Nasdaq exchange. 
  
 However, one ethanol company that chose the Nasdaq disappointed 
 investors this month by reporting a loss when Wall Street analysts were 
 confidently predicting another profitable quarter. 
  
 That company is VeraSun Energy, which is the number two producer of 
 ethanol in the US after giant Archer Daniels. It reported a loss of 
 $312,000 on revenues of $144.5m when analysts thought it would better 
 last year's corresponding quarterly profit of $2.7m. Those results sent 
 its share price plummeting 15% to $16.72 , well below its IPO figure of 
 $20. It also dragged down the share prices of Archer Daniels and others 
 in the sector. 
  
 Mr Holman is quick to point out that the public has not bought in on the 
 hype as have venture capitalists and consequently many alternative fuels 
 stock prices are not outperforming the market. 
  
 "The herd mentality has begun to take over in the venture capital 
 community and there is probably some not very wise money that is flowing 
 into the ethanol segment in particular," he said. 
  
 Even before those VeraSun financials came out, Lehman Brothers was also 
 questioning the viability of ethanol suppliers, saying the US just did 
 not have the infrastructure to digest the amount of fuel being 
 manufactured. 
  
 VeraSun blamed its travails on the high cost of corn  a situation that 
 may be alleviated when a massive planting of subsidised corn by US 
 farmers is ready for harvest. But experts like Mr Holman believe the 
 future lies not in fuel made from corn or sugar but from cellulose-based 
 farm waste such as corn kennel, wheat and barley straw. Leaves and 
 stalks of plants can also be used as the source of ethanol. 
  
 Unperturbed by the hullabaloo about the viability of ethanol or the 
 possibility of a "cleantech bubble" is America's most prominent venture 
 capitalist in the renewable energy space, Vinod Khosla, whose firm has 
 invested in 25 start-ups. Those companies include three that use corn or 
 sugar and four that use cellulosic waste to produce ethanol as well as 
 others that are looking for alternative energy sources using wind, solar 
 and water. 
  
 Khosla won't say how much he has invested  estimated to be hundreds of 
 millions of dollars - but he believes the rewards will be high and that 
 they will come sooner rather than later: "I suspect most of these 
 (investments) will be public offerings and I expect to see IPOs in 
 months not years. This area is really going to heat up." 
  
 He admits there is a possibility of a bubble as "every market that is 
 attractive goes through high expectations". 
  
 Nonetheless he is delighted that more venture capitalists are investing 
 and professes to welcome the competition for investment opportunities: 
 "I am encouraging more people to come into this business because I think 
 it will help us switch away from fossil fuels and that's a good thing. 
 And the more experiments that we try the more likely we are to succeed." 
  
 He attributes the bad press ethanol is getting to misinformation being 
 supplied by the big oil companies. Those companies have a lot to lose 
 and have launched a massive PR campaign to discredit new technologies, 
 he claimed. Big Oil is "doing what the tobacco companies did when they 
 tried to fight the notion that smoking caused cancer." 
  
  
                                 * 
 ================================================================ 
  NY Transfer News Collective    *    A Service of Blythe Systems 
            Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 
  Search Archives: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/htdig/search.html 
 Support this work, visit our sponsor http://www.blythe-systems.com 
  Subscribe: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr 
 ================================================================ 
  
 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- 
 Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (FreeBSD) 
  
 iD8DBQFGjAzniz2i76ou9wQRAmRcAJ9uZMPe2DeYKtQSww8S1h0Rq4kgDACeOwuL 
 ZDIaFh7SPgu8NcG+9Xi1/+E= 
 =GUCi 
 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- 
  
 --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05 
  * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)