Biodiesel's Future, Voodoo Energy and Seaweed Fuel

The US may well become the largest consumer of biodiesel by 2012 (so says a report at SRI Consulting) with around 19% of the world's biodiesel consumption.

With the governments of China and India recently announcing biodiesel advances themselves it's thought that these countries will emerge as a real force in the marketplace.

Anyway check out this pretty graphic for a predicted breakdown of current biodiesel consumption…

Jatropha: Not Just For Voodoo You Know…

I often get asked a few questions via email about the Jatropha plant and its biodiesel properties. I have to admit I'm no expert on the subject so it was a relief to find my faithful Guardian newspaper with some news on the subject.

For the longest time voodoo fanatics have sworn by Jatropha's potential for banishing evil spirits but it may have a bigger and more eco friendly use than that.

In Latin America they tend to run short of most things except for Jatropha. You see, the seeds can produce an oil that has great energy properties and in Haiti particularly, this could be really valuable (particularly as their electricity supply barely works at all!)

The best thing about Jatropha is that it can produce upto 4 times the amount of biodiesel as soya beans and even 1.5 times as much as canola.

Plus, the crop can grow on land that's been left for ruin with little rainfall. A sturdy plant indeed!

Funny that this voodoo bashing plant could well turn out to be one of the world's saviours!

Biodiesel From Seaweed?

Lastly, Italy are the latest country to make biodiesel from an odd substance. This time it's seaweed.

They're calling it the Mambo Project and they're spending a tidy $14 million on it!

Clearly, with the worry that biofuels are contributing to the increase in food prices this method is currently getting a lot of attention.

Basically, they grow seaweed in plastic tubes which are fed CO2 from power plants, they expect to perfect the oil production process within two years.

Be interesting to see if they succeed…

Source: Sustainable Business