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Why the Copenhagen delegates can use some hemp
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Why the Copenhagen delegates can use some hemp
Invictus and Global Warming
By MarcoVisscher | Published: December 12, 2009
Photo: Flickr image by idiolector
I’m not saying the delegates should be smoking pot (though I’d like to say that), but if the ever-controversial hemp plant could enter the climate debate for a moment, it would quickly obvious that it’s a perfect alternative fuel.
Hemp grows almost anywhere, and can be used for everything from clothing and rope to ice cream and cosmetics. In 2007, Virginia farmer Grayson Sigler completed a 40-city tour in a 1983 Mercedes Benz powered by hemp oil. He only needed to swap his rubber hoses for synthetic ones, because hemp oil doubles as a solvent. That was the only modification he needed to get his Hempcar on the road.
Though numbers vary widely, it is estimated the fuel yield per acre of hemp is around 1,000 gallons. That’s quite a bit more than ethanol can offer—and it doesn’t drive up food prices a bit.
As Craig Cox shows in his article in the free digital issue of Ode Magazine on solutions to climate change, hemp is not the only unconventional crop that holds promise. Switchgrass and especially algae are even more efficient.
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