How many hectares would be required to grow the fuel for one car, and is there enough land available in the world to grow our fuel?
A hectare of oil seed rape can produce roughly a 1000 litres of oil which if used through a reasonably economic converted diesel car can provide 10,000 miles worth of motoring; a distance many drivers cover in a year. It is extremely unlikely that all the world’s vehicles currently running on fossil fuels could instead be powered by vegetable oil. Like other renewables SVO is only part of the solution to meeting our energy requirements sustainably and needs to be combined with attempts to reduce current unsustainable levels of energy consumption.
