Kyle Johnson
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Hemp for Biodiesel Fuel? Yo, Who’s on Munchies Tonight, Yo?

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Wait...what was I saying? I lost my train of thought for some reason. Hey, you hungry at all?

Want to hear something far out? Extreme Biodiesel, Inc. (XTRM) is in the escrow phase of a venture to purchase 40 acres of California for the purpose of growing cannabis. No, this doesn’t have anything to do with Colorado and Washington’s legalization of the drug, nor the fact that a number of states are now considering laws enabling the use of medicinal marijuana or decriminalizing the use of the drug outright. No, instead it seems that XTRM wants to use the land to cultivate hemp for biodiesel fuel conversion, capitalizing on the recently signed $1 trillion Farm Bill.

hemp for biodiesel fuel

Get some sour cream and onion chips with some dip, man, some beef jerky, some peanut butter. Get some Häagen-Dazs ice cream bars, a whole lot, make sure chocolate, gotta have chocolate, man. / Logo: © Extreme Biodiesel Inc.

A provision of the Farm Bill, which was signed earlier this month by President Obama, allows for the growth and research of industrial hemp in 10 states—including West Virginia, Kentucky, and California—without fear of federal reprisals. The growth and use of hemp has not been legalized in these states, per se, but the measure is certainly another step in that direction.

As such, Extreme Biodiesel has created XTRM Cannabis Ventures to capitalize on the legislation and grow hemp for biodiesel fuel conversion. XTRM Cannabis Ventures recently received a $5 million credit line to grow hemp for biodiesel fuel, and it intends to use the 40 acres it seeks to acquire in order to house five 20,000 sq-ft warehouses for cannabis growth, 20 acres for hemp cultivation, and an industrial center for cannabis conversion.

How can you not think using hemp for biodiesel fuel is a great idea after seeing Hercules and Shooter McGavin advocate for it?

As AutoBlog points out, this isn’t the first time an automaker has used hemp in a vehicle for its fuel source. In fact, Ford attempted to use hemp in the plastic material used to create a vehicle prototype.

It will be interesting to see what side effects might arise from using hemp for biodiesel fuel, but if I had to lay a guess, drivers probably wouldn’t notice any significant differences until they fired up (their vehicle) for the second time, at which point they’d probably find something inexplicably funny, be struck by the sudden urge to eat a bunch of Hostess snack cakes, and fall peacefully into a nice little afternoon nap on their friend’s sofa.

So what do you think: is using hemp in biofuel a good idea, or should we exert more focus on other alternative fuel sources?