s Human Fat The Ultimate Bio-Diesel Fuel?

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on May 13

One of my most popular posts is on the Earthrace bio-boat fueled by human fat. I want to return to that conversation because it is important—even if it is yucky.

I need someone to do the math— 30% of all Americans are obese. A significant percentage of Chinese are now obese. Lots of Europeans are obese. And many of the rest of us are just chubby—10 to 20 pounds overweight. Just how many pounds of fat are available to us annually to make bio-fuel? What about pricing?

Let’s take this seriously and think about a sustainable, organic cycle that actually takes advantage of the fact that we eat too much, we eat too much meat, and we are, well, too many “we’s” on the planet (this biomass instead of people). So instead of complaining about all that biomass, why not use it for energy. Plug an energy use factor into our current culture of fatness.

If we can power a trimaran around the world on human fat, can’t we use our portly bodies to get our portly bodies around cities?