This is an interesting story about the push to develop biofuels in Jordan.
Jordan has the potential to grow alternative biodiesel fuels that would ease its energy crunch, environmental experts say.
The Kingdom's terrain constitutes perfect soil to plant Jatropha and Pongamia Pinnata seeds, which contain up to 40 per cent oil, National Environment and Wildlife Society (NEWS) officials told the Jordan News Agency,Petra.
But the interesting part to me is what it says about the cultivation of Jatropha in Saudi Arabia.
Harvesting Jatropha curcas is catching on in the region, according the NEWS president. By 2010, several countries will be producing Jatropha biodiesel, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has already planted 50,000 dunums of Jatropha en route to its targeted one million dunums, he pointed out.
Just for reference according to wikipedia, a dunum is 10 acres.
Of course I don't want to read too much into this but when I see a country with as much oil reserves as Saudi Arabia has getting into biofuels production I have to wonder if there is something more going on than meets the eye.
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2 comments:
Vietnam Biodiesel Fuel
I believe any country would be smart to think about long term futures on oil. Why wait until the reserves run dry before you consider alternative sources? There will be as much if not more potential earnings for the country/business which solves the problem of what fuel is most efficient and renewable for the future.
Kudos to those with forward thinking!
I agree. I guess it would be especially so for many of the countries in the Middle East that rely on oil for a majority of their energy. Any little supply hiccup could cripple their economy. And I think you are right about the economic incentives to countries and businesses that take a lead in biofuels. Whoever gets out in front with the next generation of fuels beyond ethanol from corn and biodiesel from soy and rapeseed will make big bucks from licensing their technology.
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