Wednesday Morning Science Supplement is an Open Thread
From Yahoo News Science |
1 India’s ‘miracle’ biofuel crop: too good to be true?
by Yasmeen Mohiuddin, AFP
Tue Jan 26, 10:50 pm ET
NEW DELHI (AFP) – To its fans, jatropha is a miracle crop, an eco-friendly answer to India’s growing energy needs, but some experts are starting to question whether the wonder-shrub is too good to be true.
The seeds of the wild plant, which grows abundantly across India, produce non-edible oil that can be blended with diesel, to make the biofuel that is part of government efforts to cut carbon emissions and combat climate change. That, combined with the shrub’s much vaunted ability to flourish on poorly irrigated land, should make it the perfect crop for wasteland in the drought-prone nation. |