| Jatropha is an oilseed crop that grows well | | | | - it is frost hardy (does not like hard |
| where food crops will not grow. This article | | | | freezes) |
| is about using Jatropha seed oil for | | | | |
| biodiesel production. | | | | - it does not exhaust the nutrients in the |
| | | | land |
| I know all of you are wondering why I am | | | | |
| writing about a little known plant called | | | | - it does not require expensive crop rotation |
| "Jatropha Curcas". Well... it all has to do | | | | |
| with making biodiesel and the production of | | | | - it does not require fertilizers |
| electricity using biodiesel as a fuel. This | | | | |
| is to inform you of a source of vegetable oil | | | | - it grows quickly and establishes itself |
| that is relatively unknown in the United | | | | easily |
| States and North America. The European | | | | |
| community has already seen the light as have | | | | - it has a high yield (Jatropha can yield |
| some Asian, African, Indian, and South | | | | about 1,000 barrels of oil per year per |
| American countries. Running engines on | | | | square mile - oil content of the seed is |
| vegetable oil is nothing new... did you know | | | | 55-60%) |
| that Rudolf Diesel originally designed his | | | | |
| engine to run on peanut oil? Maybe the US has | | | | - no displacement of food crops is necessary |
| not seen the light yet because we are mostly | | | | |
| engaged in the growing of food crops and oils | | | | - it is great for developing countries in |
| like soybean oil, rapeseed oil, sunflower | | | | terms of energy and jobs |
| oil, and peanut oil. All these oils are | | | | |
| edible and thus fetch high prices. After all, | | | | - the biodiesel byproduct, glycerine, is |
| why should US farmers grow a completely | | | | profitable in itself |
| inedible plant!? Used cooking oil is great | | | | |
| for the "do it yourself" biodiesel | | | | - the waste plant mass after oil extraction |
| enthusiast, but there is not enough supply of | | | | can be used as a fertilizer |
| used cooking oil to supply a whole nation. | | | | |
| | | | - the plant itself recycles 100% of the CO2 |
| This is where Jatropha comes in... | | | | emissions produced by burning the biodiesel |
| | | | |
| Jatropha has the following benefits when | | | | That's a whole lot of benefit with little or |
| looked at from the fuel production angle: | | | | no disadvantages! |
| | | | |
| - it costs almost nothing to grow | | | | The European Union biofuels directive |
| | | | requires a minimum level of biofuels as a |
| - it is drought resistant | | | | proportion of fuels sold in the European |
| | | | Union of 2% by 2005, 5.75% by 2010 and 20% by |
| - it can be grown almost anywhere - even in | | | | 2020. Of course, as the President stated |
| sandy, saline, or otherwise infertile soil | | | | recently on TV, we don't have any such energy |
| | | | program yet. And I doubt we will anytime |
| - it is easy to propagate (a cutting simply | | | | soon. The main green fuels will be ethanol |
| pushed into the ground will take root) | | | | and biodiesel, and demand for biodiesel is |
| | | | expected to be up to 10.5 billion litres just |
| - it is not invasive, or spreading, or | | | | in European countries by 2010. |
| damaging like kudzu | | | | |
| | | | Folks... this "biodiesel" thing is going to |
| - it is capable of stabilizing sand dunes, | | | | happen whether you like it or not! I know |
| acting as a windbreak, and combating | | | | there are a lot of farmers, entrepreneurs, |
| desertification | | | | and investors reading this who can cash in on |
| | | | this biodiesl craze. They are already doing |
| - it naturally repels both animals and | | | | it big time in Europe so it's just a matter |
| insects | | | | of time before it happens here. And by "it", |
| | | | I mean using Jatropha to make biodiesel. This |
| - it lives for over 50 years producing seeds | | | | industry will grow very quickly - start |
| all the time | | | | planting Jatropha TODAY and then start making |
| | | | biodiesel to generate your own electricity! |