Australia's newest cash crop - the diesel tree!

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Farmers in North Queensland are doing their bit to be environmentally friendly by investing in a tree that produces diesel.Over 20,000 trees have been sold to farmers in the tropics by the man who introduced the diesel tree from Brazil.

The tree produces an oil that can be extracted, filtered and used to power vehicles and farm machinery.

Because, the Brazilian [i]Copaifera langsdorfii[/i] can be tapped much like a rubber tree, but instead of yielding rubber it gives up a natural diesel. According to the nurseryman selling the trees, one acre will yield about 1250 gallons annually compared to about 30 gallons of ethanol produced from an acre of corn.

Once filtered no complex refining is required it can be placed straight into a diesel tractor or truck. A single [i]Copaifera langsdorfii[/i] 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.

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From [url=http://www.nextenergynews.com/news1/next-energy-news4.3.08d.html]here[/url], via [url=http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3773414]VWVortex[/url]. The only caveat I have about this is that some might be tempted to clear rainforest to grow diesel trees, which would likely outweigh any CO₂ reduction from using it as fuel (it is, after all, a tropical plant).

[ 07 April 2008: Message edited by: Agent 204 ]