Why Wal-Mart wants to sell ethanol
E85 is available at only a tiny fraction of gas stations. But Fortune’s Marc Gunther says the giant retailer is poised to change that.
Once walmart gets involved the only people that will profit will be walmart. I’m sure they’ll find a way to force the farmers to outsource, or maybe just skip corn completely and go the imported sugarcane route. Remember the pickle article? http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html
anything thats alcohol based is a fuckin waste of time. We need nuclear power, and hydrogen. Anything in between is just gonna waste money in setup, infastructure and time.
but at the same rate you think that oil companies are going to sit around and let walmart just take a percentage of their profit? They will get in the market as well…and it will be cheaper to produce the produce (silly pun) domestically
Big Oil is not a fan of R&D. Their couffers are STUFFED with cash reserves. Yet the average R&D budget (not to include drilling / prospecting) dwindles more year over year.
Walmart, on the other hand, is less worried about stockholders and more focused on market strategy. See: Walmart pulls out of Germany & Korea.
Wal mart will have to outsource Alchy. They cannot possibly buy enough land to meet the ethanol supply of this nation.
I say its a good change, now with flex fuel vehicles coming out. Competition is good. Anything to prevent Exxon/Mobil from having the most profitable quater EVER while they bend us over the pump.
Ethanol did not make any sense until now. It was for the most part more expensive than gasoline. Now that gas prices are artifically inflated it will spur people to develop ethanol.