Description of Challenge
Increasing cost of fossil fuel is a burden on food production and transportation in the rural communities. Developing alternative fuel systems, which are at the same time carbon neutral, might be remedy for both climate change and expensive fuels.Solution
Guneskoy Cooperative developed a project for using vegetable oil as an alternative fuel for tractors used in agriculture. The project was supported by UNDP. According to this project farmers allocate about 10% of their land for growing the oil crop and vegetable oil was extracted using an oil press. Vegetable oil has higher viscosity compared to diesel fuel and it does not flow easily at lower temperature. However, the viscosity of vegetable oil decreases significantly when heated and at about 70 0C it approaches to that of the diesel fuel. . Although the fuel kit is developed for the tractors, it can be adopted for other diesel vehicles. This biofuel system should have its own ethical principle such as using vegetable oil just for local energy need of a farmer, not for making profit. Because widespread plantation of oil crops for energy use may be a threat for the food security.
