Jatropha

Comment

Comment by Rick on September 19, 2008 at 9:13am

Hello Jatropha Group!

Thanks, Sterling, for creating this group, which came to my attention after I joined the Solar Updraft Group and received a friend request from Pat Jack, who belongs to both groups.

I operate www.LibertyIsGreen.com which has a beta forum I'm readying for launch that you can view at www.LibertyIsGreen.com/index.php. I also operate the domain www.JatrophaWorks.com which presently points to the "old" biofuels page on LibertyIsGreen but will eventually point to the biodiesel board in the LibertyIsGreen.com forum (specifically, here - http://libertyisgreen.com/index.php?board=7.0) and ultimately will exist as its own forum. If any among this group want to help me admin the biodiesel board at LibertyIsGreen or any other boards or forums in any of my "communities of mentoring communities" as I like to refer to them (see list at AlgorithmWorks ) please message me here at PickensPlan or through any of my communities.

Jatropha Action Items:

- Encourage subject matter experts (Ag School people, botanists, etc.) to work on solutions to toxicity issues, increase yield, etc. (Huge respect for what Ag experts do.)

- Work with the Solar Tower Updraft group on cultivation of Jatropha in the ecosystems created by this technology, which uses greenhouse-like tent structures to capture solar energy. See this video: http://libertyisgreen.com/index.php?topic=55.0

If you produce or are aware of any Jatropha vids of interest please bring them to my attention or post the embed code.

Thanks,

Rick

P.S. I intend to post this on my blog here at PickensPlan, for greater visibility.

Comment by R.S. Brooks on September 1, 2008 at 11:55am

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-05-08-jatropha-fuel_N.htm

The above link has some interesting info from USA Today in regard to Jatropha.

Comment by R.S. Brooks on August 27, 2008 at 3:42pm

Today, I planted my first 6 Jatropha seedlings. My plan is to see how these over-winter here on my test plot in Central Texas. All of the information I have come across suggests this plant might be on the fringe of the northern extremes in regard to freeze tolerance. I've planted my test crop on the south side of a 5 foot earthen berm where the soil temperature should be fairly warm during winter. The berm will benefit from a passive solar heat gain and the berm should also help "duct" our cold Canadian air blasts over the young plants. I'll supplement the plants with layers of insulation made up of aged coastal bermuda hay and sudan grasses (from rotted bails) I had left over from last year.

I'll post a short video on YouTube in a few weeks showing my project. My videos can be seen on YouTube by typing in my moniker, "TUUTUUTANGO."