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Could kiwis be the next major source of biofuel? There's some research going on in New Zealand (of course) about the feasibility of using the green fruit as a source of the plant based fuel alternative.
Right now, they say, ruined fruit gets used as stock food, but that could be turned into a fuel source. They're even working on using it for bio plastics. The "refineries" would be like wineries. There are a lot of people in New Zealand who are excited about this.
My question is, would kiwi biofuel cause any of the same problems that corn based biofuels do now? I know that the world doesn't survive on kiwi (tasty as it is) the way it does on corn. I mean, if using kiwis as biofuel doesn't cause world food shortages and all, then I would be all for it. What do you think?
[Via New Zealand Herald.com]
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6-14-2008 @1:31PM MM said... "My question is, would kiwi biofuel cause any of the same problems that corn based biofuels do now?"
No, because they're talking about using the fruit unfit for human consumption. Biofuel made from retail priced kiwis (not reject ones) would be ridicuously expensive, so there would never be any demand for it.
It's 3 million gallons of ethanol Coors produces from bad batches of beer and sells as fuel. Since they're not using beer that would otherwise have been sold to consumers it doesn't effect the price.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/13/to-beer-the-cause-of-and-solution-to-all-lifes-problems/
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6-14-2008 @6:09PM meghan said... As long as I can still get kiwis with the same price and frequency as I do now, then it's all good.
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6-14-2008 @6:37PM Sliceaheaven said... I'm in New Zealand and I used to have a job that involved kiwifruit packing technology. I learned more than most people would ever want to know about kiwifruit.
Kiwifruit are ridiculously easy to grow, and there are quantities of waste. Currently, in NZ, kiwifruit is in season and about $1 a pound. Expensive gourmet kiwifruits cost what they do partly because of their packing and promotion, and partly because the farmers need to recoup their losses from lame-o kiwifruit.
I'd like to note that there are quantities of waste with many other fruits as well, because of the idea of what is "fit for human consumption." If fruit is bruised or scraped, it won't keep and yeah, we should get rid of it. Some fruit blemishes come from fungus or insect attacks, and that's bad, too. But a lot of the "unfit for human consumption" fruit is just wierd-looking. Miniature or gigantic apples, Siamese twin peaches, bifurcated kiwifruit. These mostly get turned into juices, flavorings, fruit leather, applesauce, etc.
With the kiwifruit, there's a limited demand for kiwifruit-flavored things, and preserving the juice or pulp is expensive. So a "better use" for the lame-o kiwifruit is always in demand.
I don't know if this will make a difference outside of kiwifruit-growing areas, which also include California, Chile, Italy, and parts of Asia. But it's interesting, and I'm open to putting a kiwifruit in my tank...
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6-14-2008 @6:55PM noza said... Maybe the real idea here is that there's no one miracle biofuel. Each region should identify the agricultural products it has in excess and use those for that region's fuel needs. Corn in the Americas, kiwifruit in NZ, etc. That way the energy needs for each part of the world are met by that part of the world without affecting the food supply (or energy supply) globally.
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6-14-2008 @7:18PM Shayna Glick said... I always love reading the comments. There are usually so many great, smart comments to the posts, points of view I'd never thought of. These are totally the best comments I've ever gotten. Thanks!
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