Slashdot Mirror
New Wonder Weed to Fuel Cars?
Hugh Pickens writes "Jatropha, an ugly, fast-growing and poisonous weed that has been used as a remedy for constipation, may someday power your car. The plant, resilient to pests and resistant to drought, produces seeds with up to 40 per cent oil content that when crushed can be burned in a diesel car while the residue can be processed into biomass for power plants. Although jatropha has been used for decades by farmers in Africa as a living fence because its smell and taste repel grazing animals, the New York Times reports that jatropha may replace biofuels like ethanol that require large amounts of water, fertilizer, and energy, making their environmental benefits limited. Jatropha requires no pesticides, little water other than rain and no fertilizer beyond the nutrient-rich seed cake left after oil is pressed from its nuts. Poor farmers living close to the equator are planting jatropha on millions of acres spurred on by big oil companies like British Petroleum that are investing in jatropha cultivation."
When all is said and done, nothing changes...
How long before the gov't makes this illegal like they did with hemp, to keep the oil companies in business? It's not like hemp gets you high, it would just hurt DuPont and a bunch of other big companies, like this might hurt oil companies. I'm tired of this big gov't, big industry circle jerk that we seem to have going in this country. I guess if you can bribe enough senators (and don't tell me "campaign contributions" aren't bribery), you can do anything. Hell, the boys in DC will even start a war to help their profits. Does anyone remember how in history, it's been corruption that has brought down every major civilization. I'm afraid we're heading for the same thing here in the US...