The green-minded Germans are looking for, and finding, cleaner energy-sources—like rapeseed.
A farmer sprays a field of rapeseed, Germany’s new diesel fuel. Photo: Peter Foerster, for AFP.
Rejecting bioengineered foods and deciding to protect its natural environment, Germany may enlighten the rest of the world about human-flower coexistence.
A recent story reports how Germany is using the familiar cooking-oil crop, rapeseed, as material for fuel. “Heated to a high temperature, it becomes a biological form of diesel that emits only a fraction of the carbon dioxide,” AFP reports.
“Some 1.1 million tonnes of the fuel, nicknamed ‘flower power,’ were produced by about 20 manufacturers in 2004 in Germany”; the 1,800 gas stations that sell it enjoy a tax exemption.
Rapeseed diesel is just one of the renewable fuels gaining popularity in Germany. Power stations that run on “liquid manure” and wood are also on the rise, in use on farms, in homes, and in “private workshops,” too.
The consumer protection ministry reported, “In 2003, renewable energy supplied 3.1 percent of the energy used by consumers in Germany, versus 1.3 percent in 1990.” And this cleaner energy prevents the emission of “nearly 20 million tonnes of greenhouse gases” a year.
In the U.S. we figure alternative fuels may power a weenie-sized car or a hippie farm here or there, but what are we really talking about?
“Juehnde, close to the northern university city of Goettingen, decided to test the theory. The town, population 800, now predicts it will soon be able to satisfy all of its heat and electricity needs with animal and plant products from its own backyard.”
The rapeseed fields are available, the “liquid manure” is avilable, the engineering know-how is available. But commitment, what Germany has, seems to be in short supply.
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