Sometimes, the most innovative of ideas that could potentially change the world come in the most familiar of places. Take the case of Al Costa, founder and CEO of US-based Brazilian biofuel company Alkol, Inc. His company gave rise to the 1Hour Flex, a conversion system which allows any fuel-injected car to run on any amount of alcohol or gasoline.

The system was so well-received in Costa’s native Brazil and even to a growing number of consumers in the US that it garnered a nomination for the "Green Automobiles and Transportation" section of the Top 100 Private Companies Competition sponsored by the Always On Going Green East conference last September 1.

In an exclusive interview granted to Ecoseed.org, Costa offered some insights into the interesting development of the Flex kit, his thoughts on the biofuel industry his company is currently part of, and his plans for Alkol’s future.

ECOSEED: What is the significance of being nominated for the Going Green 2009's prize for the "Green Automobiles and Transportation" category to your company?

AL COSTA (AC): Considering that we started to come out of stealth mode in the US less than 6 months ago, it shows that we have a winning and highly disruptive business model. In fact, being listed side by side with great and widely known companies such as Tesla is really an honor and an undeniable proof that we are in the right track when it comes offering the market with real solutions for the environment.

ECOSEED: What inspired or convinced you to develop the 1Hour Flex kit?

AC: A mix of entrepreneurship with a desire of showing the world how Brazil for long has been a world leader when the issue is nature conservancy. Take for example the city of Rio de Janeiro: Back in 1800 people found out that the city did not receive rain anymore because of the ongoing deforestation in the nearby forests because of coffee plantations. [They] had the vision and guts to confiscate those properties and plant the entire forest back, which is today the only totally urban national park in the world: the "floresta da tijuca.”

ECOSEED: Why did you delve into the biofuel industry and not into some other business, green or otherwise?

AC: I have a master in computer engineering from the US and until then I was working in the Internet industry. So I decided it was time to also put my US BA degree in biology into good use in a technology that employs well both, which is ethanol conversion for automobiles. However, I've been interested in biotech ever since I was a high school student, when I won first prize in the school science fair for a device that converted manure into methane gas (the contraption smelled very bad, but worked like a charm!).

ECOSEED: Are you interested in expanding the Flex kit to be made available to other countries besides the US?

AC: Yes. In fact, we’ve been approached by several investors and distributors interested in having our technology in their countries, such as Europe, China, India, Canada. To be honest, for me that was a surprise: it did not even occur to me there was already so much interest worldwide on something that’s been going on in Brazil for the past 30 years. The opportunities it generates are enormous and we are fully able to tackle them.

ECOSEED: What measures has the Alkol Company taken to try and make the 1Hour Flex kit more affordable to customers?

AC: The system is actually priced at around US$450: the other $450 is an estimate on how much the distributors would spend to install the system and have a profit. Still, to think that our system, which has three parts—a converter, cold start system, and ignition remapper—is expensive, when our closest competitor that only sells the converter charges for it $1,295 is unreal. On the other hand, the value that comes from being able to fuel your car with a fuel that is 20% cheaper, pollutes 30% less, and increases the resale value of your automobile makes the initial investment rather inexpensive.

ECOSEED: How does the company plan to stay ahead of its competitors in the biofuel market?

AC: By doing what we do best: that is, to convert automobiles in a way that is totally transparent to the end user. In fact, today’s drivers want more option in fueling: they do not want to be stuck with only one kind of fuel whatever that fuel may be, but they also don’t want to know how, when, where, etc that is done! They just want to have the same performance as before without getting involved in technical talk, exactly when they purchased their cars. So, it is a matter of service and experience above all.

ECOSEED: Any other future plans?

AC: We want to be "the" choice when it comes to transforming the driver’s car to whatever new fuel that shows up in the future. Several technologies are sprouting and some will go and some will stay. And whatever those technologies are, there will always be used cars owners that are stuck with either buying a new car (an expensive option), or just transforming the ones they have to that new technology.



-  Joseph Dayrit