Policy Wise

The lowly jatropha which can be grown virtually anywhere can provide a partial solution to the global energy crisis,

Goldman Sachs recently cited jatropha as one of the best candidates for future biodiesel production. A Bear Stearns analysis last year found that U.S. farmers only have the capacity to replace about 7% of the country’s gasoline with corn-based ethanol, despite a new federal renewable-fuels target of 15% by 2017. To reach that goal, the U.S. would likely have to find a lot more land.

India, by contrast, has millions of acres of wasteland that isn’t fully utilized due to low water tables and infertile soil. Jatropha advocates figure the crop can cover much of that area without causing environmental distress.

In late June, oil giant BP PLC said it will invest $90 million in a joint venture with U.K.-based D1 Oils PLC, a biofuels start-up that’s developing jatropha in India and elsewhere.

Another company, Australia-based Mission Biofuels Ltd., has raised more than $80 million from investors and has representatives fanning out across the Indian subcontinent to sign up growers. It has roughly 66,000 acres under cultivation already and expects to hit 250,000 by 2010.

The lowly Jatropha which can be grown virtually anywhere and at a very low cost can provide a partial solution to the global energy crisis,[Link]