Google Goes Green With Biofuel Investment

justmeans.com
March 18, 2011

The folks at Google Ventures have been very active in the green venture capital space lately.

Following a $42 million investment in the extreme weather/climate change insurance start-up WeatherBill last month, the venture capital arm of Google is making its first foray into the biofuel space, leading a $20 million dollar investment into CoolPlanet Biofuels, a Camarillo California-based startup that has only been in business for 18 months.

CoolPlanet Biofuels is developing technology to produce fuel from inedible biomass such as wood chips, grass clippings, and crop residue. But instead of creating large-scale refineries where agricultural waste would need to be shipped to them via expensive, carbon-burning transportation like trucks or trains, CPB plans to use mobile refineries. These refineries will be packed into tractor trailers and will essentially be refinery plants on wheels, with the ability to move from site to site. The mobile plant will look something like this.

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