Richard Branson has never been afraid of big ideas, or standing outside the CW, with businesses like Virgin Galactic. It may have taken him a while to come around to the evidence of global warming, but now that he has, he is using his new-found belief to create another business based on innovation: Virgin Fuel. In a recent Interview with Business 2.0, Branson talked about his new awareness of long-term climate changes and his new enterprise to develop a super fuel -- clean burning and, he hopes, very profitable. Branson plans to invest "something like $1 billion in alternative fuels" across the board through the end of this decade. But Virgin Fuel is something else. He's cautiously mum on the details, noting only that it will be a "clean burning" but non-ethanol-base fuel, but he's not cautious about his expectations, predicting the new fuel will not only fly Virgin's jets, but also predicting the fuel "will work in cars and trucks and trains within a year." And I admit to salivating when he talks this way.Will Virgin Fuel become the next Virgin Records, or will it become the next Virgin Brides?
(Disclosure: I have no financial interests or involvement with Virgin.)
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-03-2006 @ 7:49PM
T.E.GUILLOT said...
THANK GOD SOMEONE LIKE HIM HAS FINALLY WAKING UP. I HOPE IT ISNT TO LATE.
8-03-2006 @ 9:14PM
Jay Wojcik said...
Always remember that, "necessity is the Mother of Invention". We all need an alternative 'clean burning' fuel.
8-03-2006 @ 9:16PM
John Doe said...
Where do I invest?
8-04-2006 @ 9:47AM
Gary Deffendall said...
I hope someone has the guts to find an alternative fuel for the U.S. Because if they dont, the oil companies will just keep milking us dry...The price of gasoline will just keep going up like a rocket and down like a feather as long as the oil companies control the fuel our autos need to run..Maybe something like this will force the auto companies to build cars that get good mileage, not 25-30mpg for a hybred...
8-05-2006 @ 5:19PM
Sparrowhawk said...
I do wish to remind Gary Deffendall that Branson and indeed the rest of the aware world are trying to change our dependence on fossel fuels not just so that the fuel guzzlers of the U.S can have something else to put in their gas tanks but so that we can actually SAVE THE HUMAN RACE-including the Americans. This issue is so much biger than that. Its the whole way we think about life, consumption and the fact that everything RUNS OUT if you use it indescriminately.Its time for the whole species to grow up and take responsibility for what they are doing to each other and the home they live on. If cars died out and humans didnt, I think we could consider it a victory nevertheless.We could stop putting concrete over good arrable land and grow food on it for the rest of the planet.Whilst I welcome Bransons declaration, I would welcome some common sense from the general population even more. ITS TIME TO WAKE UP!Go and see what Al Gore has to say before getting to excited about the prospects of more unlimited mileage..
9-21-2006 @ 12:44PM
Nick Lucca said...
While this is an admirable and extremely positive move, it is not the responsibility of corporate conglomerates to ensure our survival. But most people in the US are motivated by short sighted self-interest, and direct their funds into organizations that perpetuate global destruction in exchange for new and innovative ways to disconnect us from natural life.
9-21-2006 @ 12:45PM
ted said...
Yes, lets all stop consuming and save the planet. Just think what a wonderful place this would be if everyone just committed suicide.
10-08-2006 @ 3:41PM
Richard said...
Perhaps Sir Richard Branson should think about competing for the Green Riband (www.greenriband.org) - awarded for the fastest circumnavigation of the globe using zero emission transportation. Fuel cells, bio fuels, wind, solar etc...