Sun Microsystems founder Vinod Khosla is all over the ethanol map these days. He's investing millions in new production techniques while paying to build plants using current ones and at the same time he says ethanol is just a stepping stone fuel, a band-aid if you will. To clarify his position a little bit, he's written a first-person account in the October issue of WIRED about his comprehensive search for the best way to produce ethanol and why he's even bothering.

Khosla says that, "Corn ethanol is a crucial first step toward kicking our oil addiction," and his prediction about how we're going to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels in the end game is the common patchwork vision of cellulose biofuels, better hybrids and batteries, plug-in hybrids and lighter, more efficient cars. Hydrogen is just trendy and has bad economics, he says. What we need are cellolosic ethanol plants (like the cool-sounding first anaerobic thermal conversion machine run by Kergy), Khosla says. And when (one of) ethanol's Mr. Moneybags speaks, people listen.

[Source: WIRED, hat tip to ksmith]