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Article from "The Economist"

Rudolph Diesel's dream finally comes true? Enter Hemp-oil?

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Article is copied from "The Economist" exactly as is without modifications except for some underlined highlights:

German Flower Power Franz is filling up his car!

"Fill your tank with sunlight, water and earth", proclaim the posters for "bio-diesel"-an adapted form of rapeseed oil that can be used in cars. The blurb is designed to appeal to the consciences of Germany's environmentally minded drivers. Will it catch on? Both greens and the energy industry would love to know.

Bio-diesel's fans note that it is a renewable source of energy and that exhaust emissions from cars using it are far lower than those from other cars. Bio-diesel is usually cheaper, too.

But there are snags. Manufacturing bio-diesel can have nasty environmental side-effects. It is also much more expensive to produce than the conventional stuff; only a tax break and other hidden subsidies make it competitive. Methanol in the fuel can dissolve some cars' gaskets and rubber hoses. Fitting more durable parts costs around DM 500 ($323) per car. Worse, the exhaust fumes can be very smelly: "like a mobile chip-fryer" says one expert. A catalyst solves the problem, but can cost DM 2,000 ($1,292).

All this explains why, even in greenminded Germany, bio-diesel accounts for less than 1% of the country's annual diesel consumption of 26.2m tonnes (196.5m barrels), and none of the big filling-station chains offers it. This is changing. Many new cars and trucks now come ready-fitted for bio-diesel. The stuff is also easier to buy, thanks to independent filling stations which find that they can attract new business by selling it.

More customers are also becoming interested. For example, the new Reichstag building in Berlin will be heated with bio-diesel. And some taxis are switching to it in a bid to distinguish themselves from rivals. Ifo, an economic research institute, believes that bio-diesel production could reach 2m tonnes a year by 2010. That could tempt oil companies on to the bandwagon: Elf, a French oil firm, already has a joint venture distributing bio-diesel in Germany.

For now, bio-diesel's greatest fans are an un-ecological bunch. A tankful or two can help smoke-belching old bangers pass Germany's tough tests on exhaust emissions-and save their owners thousands of D-marks in compulsory repairs. "After that we never see them again" says Berlin's biggest bio-diesel dealer.

Irish have high hopes for cannabis, fuel of the future

Vegetable Oil Will Fuel New Jersey Test Buses! (source Inv. Buss. Daily)

NJTransit is conducting a four-month test of a blended diesel fuel containing vegetable oil, like that from soy beans (hemp-seed). The National Biodiesel Board is providing the fuel free of charge, thanks to a grant from the United Soybean Board. The B-20 fuel, containing 20% vegetable oil, was developed by Twin Rivers Technologies, Inc. of Quincy, Mass

*Industrial-Hemp has no psychoactive properties following definition of the European Economic Community (EEC); THC content is less than 0.3%. In general, low THC-seed varieties without psychoactive properties are those that have a THC content of less than 1%. (See also No-THC Hemp-seed.) THC= Delta-9 TetraHydroCannabinol.