No one has ever brewed biofuel from straw on a commercial scale.
Trying to invest in ethanol and biofuels today is a bit like Internet investing in the '90s. My first draft of this article began something like, “here are the top ten things to do and see when you travel to Paris. No one has ever brewed biofuel from straw on a commercial scale. And once upon a time, he didn't know much about airlines or records or phones, either. Most of the publicly traded companies are pint-sized crapshoots, and it's not yet clear whether the early-to-the-game blue chips are pursuing the best strategies.
Richard Branson doesn't claim to be an energy guru. With Shell's backing, Iogen is likely to be the first.