Pumping up the volume on ethanol

The debate has changed from whether we use the biofuel to when and how to increase its use, writes Robert Wainwright.

THE businessman Trevor Bourne has $1 billion to spend making ethanol. His Brisbane company – Global Ethanol Holdings – will be listed publicly in Sydney on Friday with hopes of raising $400 million to buy two plants and build three others which, when completed in two years, will pump almost 3 billion litres of biofuel into a market hungry for alternatives to oil. The numbers sound astonishing but more telling is that Bourne is not investing in Australia, but in four US states – Michigan, Iowa, Illinois and Washington.

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