Thursday, December 20, 2007

Fat Boat

Al Gore will love this. Save the earth and lose weight at the same time.

The fastest eco boat on the planet will attempt to break the round the world speed record using fuel made from human fat.

Fastest boat powered by fat? Must mean there are slow boats powered by fat.

Who knew?

Bethune underwent liposuction and donated enough to produce 100ml of biofuel, while two other, larger volunteers also had the procedure, making a total of 10 litres of human fat.

For the rest of us, 10 litres (British spelling) equals a little over 2 gallons of fat.

That converts into a little over 1.5 gallons of fuel.

Enough to travel 15km or 9 miles . . give or take.

Earthrace is fuelled on 100 per cent biodiesel and has a net zero carbon footprint.

See? I told you Al would love it.

But there is a problem.

Circumnavigating the globe represents the pinnacle of powerboat challenges, and more than 24,000 nautical miles is the world's longest speed challenge.

If they have a 24,000 mile journey and they start with enough fuel to travel 9 miles with "fat donations" from 3 volunteers, how many more fat people will it take to complete the journey?

Don't you just love these kind of math problems?

Happy eating over the holidays!
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