Weekly Insider (Petro Parity, Biofuels or Biofools)

Our latest premium Forbes report was just released to subscribers. Some choice quotes from Robert Tjian, founder of Tularik:

The best scientists I know share one common denominator: a willingness to take risks.

And from Nobel laureate Bob Grubbs, a pioneer in catalysts:

It's really easy to start a company, but it's harder than hell to get any money out of it.

Meanwhile, I’ve long lamented biofuel ventures, dubbing them “biofools”.

Well, the expert analysts at Lux Research have an open webinar on the issue LIVE on Feb 10th at 11:00am EDT. It’s called, “Biofuels' and Biomaterials' Path to Petroleum Parity”

You can register here

Environmental and economic problems posed by petroleum are spurring the search for renewable, bio-based alternatives. To date, most biofuels and biomaterials developers have focused on lab- and demonstration-scale studies to improve performance and reduce cost so they can compete with petroleum products, and those goals are coming within sight. The hurdle on the horizon, however, is scale: Today’s biotechnologies would need an area the size of Russia to replace the 30 billion barrels of oil consumed annually. Complementing or replacing oil will require integrated, dual-use facilities in the biofuels value chain, and bio-based carbon capture to move from the realm of science fiction into science.

Join them to hear Lux Research’s first-of-its-kind analysis of how bio-based materials will compete with oil, and when and how they’ll reach the elusive goal of “petroleum parity.” Learn:

• How biofuels and biomaterials costs stack up against petroleum-based products

• What performance metrics biofuels and biomaterial stack up on – and where they fall short

• Whether biofuels and biomaterials technologies have the potential to scale up to match petroleum’s output

• Which biofuel and biomaterial technologies look most promising in the areas of cultivation, processing, and production

• How to follow the path toward petroleum parity and where the opportunities to profit will arise

Weekly Insider (Noble Nobels)

We’ve got some amazing upcoming interviews to share with you--all of whom happen to be part of my Lux Capital partner Larry Bock’s USA Science Festival. In the past week, I’ve sat down with Nobel Prize winning chemist Karry Mullis who invented PCR (polymerase chain reaction for amplifying DNA sequences); Nobel Prize winning physicist John Mather who helped prove the Big Bang Theory (with cosmic background radiation); Nobel Physicist Carl Weiman who discovered the Bose-Einstein condensate. And Nobel Chemist Alan Heeger who invented conductive polymers (think: OLEDs or plastic light).

Here’s one preview factoid gleaned yesterday while sitting with Nobel laureate Bob Grubbs talking about chemistry and war. When people remember World War II and the Battle of Britain in 1940, few remember the role of chemistry. A Northwestern University chemist invented a catalyst that gave the Allies a huge edge. The chemist was able to turn useless crude into 100-octane gasoline replacing the 87-octane everyone was using. The British Royal Air Force's Spitfires and Hurricanes could now go 30mph faster than the Germans. Outmatched, the military balance tipped to Britain and Hitler abandoned the British invasion and turned east. Just months earlier, the same British planes were being beat handily by Germans in battles over France. Same planes, different fuel: super fuel.