Watermelon Juice: The New Fuel?
A staple of backyard barbecues and summer time snacks, watermelon is also a promising new source of renewable energy.
According to a new study, leftover watermelons from farms’ harvests could be converted into up to 9.4 million liters (2.5 million gallons) of clean, renewable ethanol fuel every year destined for your car, truck, or airplane’s gas tank.
Agriculturally, watermelon is a peculiar fruit — each year farmers across the country leave between 20 and 40 percent of their crop to rot on the ground. These are the ugly ducklings of the lot; though perfectly fine on the inside, the misshapen or blemished melons simply won’t sell at the grocery store.
Across the United States, it’s estimated that 360,000 tons of watermelons spoil in fields every year.
Photo by sofijab.
Angie Carlson on August 28th, 2009 7:39 am
If this idea takes off, I’m sure that it will extend beyond the “leftover” watermelons. The price of watermelon is going to go through the roof, just as the price of corn has.
Jaclyn Wells on August 28th, 2009 1:19 pm
Wow, who would have thought that watermelon would be able to be used for gas to fuel your vehicle! I agree with Angie, the price of watermelon will no doubt go sky high, but then again it would in turn increase the amount of people who start growing their own watermelon to cut down on costs which then would increase the profits in sales for watermelon seeds.
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