Windmills? Solar Panels? Fuggedaboutit! The Renewable Fuel of the Future is...Coconuts?
This snippet is from the current issue of National Geographic (I quote from my paper version since this bit isn't available online):
This year Tokelau, a trio of South Pacific atolls, aims to generate all of its power with solar energy and coconut oil. It joins other coconut-rich places--including Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and Vanuatu--that have blended or modified coconut oil to run things like ships, trucks, and official vehicles.
You can fuel your truck and make a mean pina colada. How great is that? I bet even now Ontario's Premier Dalton McGreeny is assembling a panel of experts to try to figure out how to grow coconut trees in chilly Ontario.
1 comment:
Actually, using solar energy and coconut oil--which is quite energetic and has been used as fuel in the South Pacific for many generations--instead of hydrocarbons might well make economic sense for these countries, which are rich in sunshine and coconut groves (as well as the cheap labor to harvest the latter). The problem comes when the Greenies declare them to be universal panaceas, to be imposed by force of law everywhere.
Post a Comment