How to sell cellulose

The Solar Decathlon is this weekend! Yaaay! We’re heading down there on Saturday to check out the proceedings and take some pictures for a full report here on Corn Car, so keep your eyes here for that.

In the meantime, we promised a list of ways to introduce cellulosic ethanol to the mainstream. This was before we realized that we’d previously made a list of how to sell automakers on the idea, which is pretty similar. But we’ve still got some ideas that break away into their own category:
1. Park cellulose-fueled cars at Wal-Mart, Target, and other discount department stores. Wal-Mart and its ilk are where Middle America shops, if their corporate propaganda tells it right, and flex-fuels are still seen as uppity for reasons we’re still not clear on. Regardless, it wouldn’t hurt for people to see those cars around places where “ordinary” Americans go, just to prove the point that this technology isn’t leverage in some weird, beside-the-point class struggle.

2. Establish that pot and beer can fuel cars. This was the intern’s idea, so blame him, but there is merit in explaining that cellulosic ethanol can be made from nearly anything. Molson Coors already used their waste beer to fuel vehicles for the last Democratic National Convention, so the precedent has been set. Inserting pot into the equation will draw crazy people, but it’s still an ordinary facet of American life that can make cellulosic ethanol more approachable, and it deflates the anti-corn people who think we’re stealing ethanol stock from famine-ravaged Africans.

3. Hot girls. Another intern suggestion, but he’s right; hot girls can sell anything.

4. Auto racing, which has been underway for more than a year now. Racing is a great venue for showcasing flex-fuels, and Indy cars have been using methanol since the 1960s. Switching over to cellulosic ethanol would help out a lot, and already has: a biobutanol/ethanol blend car was raced at Petiti Le Mans last month.

5. No, seriously, hot girls.