With the price of diesel skyrocketing (prompting independent truckers to strike yesterday), it's interesting to note that Mother Nature has actually made a tree that produce natural diesel!
Treehugger has the story:
Australian farmers in the wet tropical region of North Queensland have bought over 20,000 of these so-called diesel trees. The intention is that in 15 or so years they’ll have their very own oil mine growing on their farmland.
Because, the Brazilian Copaifera langsdorfii, to use its botanical name, can be tapped not unlike a rubber tree, but instead of yielding rubbery latex it gives up a natural diesel. According to the nurseryman selling the trees, one hectare will yield about 12,000 litres annually.
Once filtered—no complex refining required, apparently—it can be placed straight into a diesel tractor or truck. We read that a single Copaifera langsdorfii will continue to produce fuel oil for an impressive 70 years, with the only negative being that its particular form of diesel needs to be used within three months of extraction.
Link - Thanks Chris Tackett!
Those who outlaw nature should be jailed, not those who enjoy using nature for their health and recreation. Why is marijuana schedule I again? No medical benefits to it you say? Blow me.
Both the proa and anti parties are saying that you shouldn't make a choice between food and fuel.
Seems to be missing the point.
It's not making fuel out of corn or sugar cane, but making fuel out of the by product, the stalks and husks etc.
So it's fuel without the loss of food.
And Diesel DESIGNED his engine to run on veg oil, ground nut oil initially.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/25/2198815.htm
But anyway -- this might be doable for sustenance farmers with excess land, but at 30-40 liters annually per tree, there won't be enough production to compete with petroleum diesel. As a (very) rough guess, that's only about twice as much syrup (not sap) that is produced from a maple tree annually, and a gallon of that stuff will cost you $50 easily.
A better option would be a higher-yield source of biodiesel, such as sugarcane or switchgrass, even with the extra processing that they must go through. Or even better, reduce our energy consumption.
It's not one thing or another, it's lots of things.
there is no magic bullet.
@Jen: I find it strange that most of the people who launch themselves into fake coughing fits and claim that I'm giving them cancer whenever I light a cigarette still fire up the bong every morning at half past nine.