A new ecopreneurial effort may mean a different kind of fuel.

Ethanol is getting a lot of attention as a way to cut dependence on fossil fuels such as gasoline and oil. But even as it solves some problems, ethanol creates others -- it's expensive to produce and growing all the corn the current manufacturing proc ess needs isn't the best use of land or agricultural resources.

Now a New Zealand company says it has found another way to make ethanol, using bactieria and carbon monoxide.

A Silicon Valley venture captialist seeking to back ecological initiatives that could be good business opportunities likes their ideas, their processes, their technology and the size of their achievement relative to the number of people working on the problem.