Comment 8 on Ethanol

Ben, I really love to watch you think! Looking up Jatropha I saw such headlines as Poison plant could help to cure the planet. The headline isn't so bad, but I think that it rather encourages a habit of thinking we're going to find a silver bullet to the engery supply problem. Most people who've looked at the problem predict that we're going to have to go to a mix of energy solutions.

One of the things that seemed really attractive to me about Jatropha is that a business of producing seedlings is something that could start with very little capital. It's hard to convince farmers to grow a crop when they don't see an established market for it. That's a real catch 22 for new crops everywhere. But since Jatropha has uses against pests and since the oil can be used directly for burning, there's already some anticipated value which makes a toehold for the crop to become planted. It looks like oil can be recovered from the plants simply by cold pressing which really helps to make value without a big capital investment.

The combination view you're considering really has a lot going for it. It's remarkable that growing Jatropha might increase cassava production.

I'm sure I'm not alone in being willing to do specific research on this project, so be sure to let us know what to do. Clearly the story of what you're doing is a story very relevant to others in different places.