With oil trading at roughly $70 a barrel, this lowly forest plant is suddenly an
unlikely star on the world’s alternative-energy stage. The seeds from jatropha’s
golf-ball-size fruit contain a yellowish liquid similar to palm oil that can be
made into biodiesel … But unlike other biodiesel crops, jatropha can be grown
almost anywhere — including deserts, trash dumps, and rock piles. It doesn’t
need much water or fertilizer, and it isn’t edible. That means environmentalists
and policy makers don’t have to worry about whether jatropha diverts resources
away from crops that could be used to feed people.
Could this be the source of energy that we have been looking for. Bio fuels have a strong future, but the current crops that are used for bio fuel are not good for energy. A plant like this could dramatically change the application of bio fuels to energy policy.
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